Sonic World Adventure Rush
by Chris Gammon
Summary: Old foes lie in wait. Shaky alliances are formed, and warring factions seek to change history forever. It is a war that either side cannot be allowed to win.
1. Budding Revenge

[Authors Note: This is a preview of my upcoming epic that is in the works. Unfortunately, work has been delayed to await any potential elements from the latest Sonic titles, announced and in the works, that I can incorporate into the fold, seeing as how this will incorporate any and all representations and timelines of Sonic into one cohesive story, even if it is just passing reference. This will give you a general idea of the direction I want this to go. There will also be bonuses for hardcore fans to spot and enjoy.]

Captain Westwood hated patrol duty. Everyone had to do at least one round eventually, and Westwood always hoped it wasn't his turn. Unfortunately, it was.

As he walked down the hall lined with glass fronted containment cells, he couldn't help but sneer at the scum that was housed here. Area 99 was the place where all political prisoners, prisoners of war, and the so called Super Villains, people that regular prisons couldn't handle, were housed. Lots of whack jobs mixed in with the scum. Walking by one cell in particular, he noticed a strange sign stuck to the glass. DO NOT HAVE ANY TELEVISION OPERATIONAL AROUND THIS PRISONER.

This caught his attention enough to peer through the glass at the squat man inside. He had to be no more than four feet tall, if even that. He wore a lab coat that was obviously too small for his girth, and a red fez upon his head, stained with years of wear and tear.

"Lack of quality television leads to depression from boredom! Theme songs don't exist anymore! There's no fun!" he muttered to himself before spotting Westwood though his goggles. He slammed himself against the glass, causing the Agent to stumble back in surprise. "THE SEGA CHANNEL WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FOR GOOD!" he yelled.

Westwood shook his head and walked off. "Weirdo."

Yes, Area 99 was interesting to those that worked there. It was even more of a wonderment to those outside. The public, as always, was kept blissfully unaware of what went on, leading to overactive imaginations to craft outlandish tales of alien technology, unlawful experiments on people and captive alien beings, and various other tales.

If only they knew how right they were about some of those claims. Attempts to utilize newfound technology discovered from an ancient alien race that visited Earth eons ago, were being made. Scientist called them the Drakon, after what little writings they found from the race.

There was also the matter of the Black Arms. They couldn't be covered up to the people, as the whole world witnessed their invasion. But what the people didn't know, was Shadow the hedgehog was only half successful with his mission. For floating in a tube within the confines of one of the myriad labs of Area 99, was the starfish like Doom's Eye. Studies have been made on its anatomy, but no autopsy had been made in a vain hopes that it survived, and that they could "coax" information about their technology from it.

Some even speculated that Doom's Eye was really the true form of Black Doom, and the other bodies were just for show to command loyalty from fear. Those claims were quickly dismissed. After all, the United States government was never wrong about anything.

Hell, even the president didn't know of what was going on here. Westwood kind of liked that. The thrill he got of witnessing things no one else ever will, the added thrill of getting caught. It gave him a rush. So much so, he began to undermine his fellow employees with secrets of his own. Unbeknownst to anyone, Westwood hated those that worked under his command. Agent Topaz and Agent Rouge. At first, the human and the bat didn't like each other's views, but quickly warmed to each other and became friends. Westwood heard their jokes about what he does when he sneaks off somewhere to concoct his own plans. He knew they hated him. And he hated them just the same. The one thing he had that they didn't, was power. He could fire them at any time, but given the fact that their success rate has made them the Commander's pets, it would make him look bad in his superior's eyes.

So began the eternal struggle. Westwood became one of the few to lead a triple life. His everyday life, his government life, and now his secret dedication to destroy those he hated for stealing his rightful glory. He worked his ass off to get where he was today, and suddenly he's ousted by the vigilante tactics of a blue hedgehog. Ever since that hedgehog came to Station Square to stop Dr. Eggman, a mission HE was supposed to do, Westwood had to save face with what he had left. Then came Shadow joining their ranks to rub salt in his wounds. Bad enough a blue hedgehog makes him look bad, but now a black one taking his job was the last straw. Not to mention all the horrible things he did under the sway of the Black Arms, and they give him a job, just like that! Almost as if it was a thank you! Good thing he broke ranks to become an Agent in Soleanna. But that wouldn't spare him from Westwood's reach.

His life wasn't the only one destroyed by Sonic's sudden intrusion, far from it. There were others who felt the same way. And in some cases, they're justified in doing do. Granted it's partially the governments fault for Dr. Eggman having what he has in the first place, but that didn't matter. Those mistakes were in the past. Effectively covered up like everything else.

With thoughts of revenge and reclaiming his faded glory swirling in his head, Westwood cracked a smirk. Just one final insult to those he was about to betray completely. He glanced back at the holding cell of the fat man in the fez.


	2. Vacation Interrupted

Ah, Green Hills beach! This was Sonic's old stomping ground back in the day, and all his childhood friends, as well as new ones migrated from Westside Island, were there. Westside Island had been deemed uninhabitable due to all the Mega Mack seeping from the Chemical Plant built there.  
Sonic was kicking back in his lounge chair, enjoying the cool, salty breeze blowing through his spines. Miles Prower, know to everyone as Tails, was standing at the shoreline, watching the clear blue water washing over his bare white paws. He had designed a new Extreme Gear based surf board, figuring the two sports shared the same principals. He reached down and adjusted the safety harness around his ankle, then looked over his shoulder at Sonic.  
"Sure you don't want to try it out?" he asked again, a smile crossing his face.  
Sonic only waved passively, grabbing a pack of nearby Mean Beans and opening it, dumping out a pawful of the colorful jellybeans painted with funny eyes. "Nah, water's not my thing. Go on ahead."  
Tails shrugged and turned back to the ocean, his twin tails swaying in anticipation. The waters of the South Pacific reflected the shining sun and cloudless blue sky. The reflections of South Islands' naturally occurring checkered hillsides rippled in the small waves from the sea air.  
Sonic's green eyes looked over his shades and between his feet, which were not covered in blue fur contrary to speculation, at his foxy buddy, and smirked. Tails sure was smart. But Sonic also noticed that while it was obvious he aged mentally, he didn't look as if he were aging physically. His battles against the likes of Chaos and Dark Gaia, had gotten the hedgehog interested in mythology. Mainly to prepare for any other mythological beasts Eggman might try and release. This dabbling led him to learn about the Kitsune, a mystical, mischievous fox that grew a tail every hundred years until it reached a maximum of nine. It was said to be highly intelligent.  
Sonic shook his head at the thoughts of his furry buddy being a mythical creature. Though he did remember the times he was told Tails would exceed him in heroism. He also appeared to be more in control of the Chaos Emerald's powers than even Sonic was in his Super form. It was strange, but didn't affect his friendship with him at all. The two have been together this long, so why stop it now? Besides, he was the only one who could somewhat keep up with the hedgehog.  
He sighed and stretched back out in his lounge chair. Contrary to popular belief, Sonic and Tails were the exact opposite of how they behaved. Sonic may always seem on the go and have an extremely short attention span. But in reality, he would love nothing more than to relax in the sun and have not a care in the world. Guess it's a noble goal for someone who had so much responsibility dumped on them at such a young age. He began to understand how Princess Sally felt when burdened with her responsibilities.  
Tails on the other hand, seemed to always linger in the background, fighting alongside Sonic, but rarely on his own. But, he was the one working into the wee hours of the night making new inventions to help him and his friends on his journey. With Rotor's new job position on the Council, someone had to take over as resident inventor, and who better than his most trusted student? He was also the only one to work alongside Eggman during the invasion of the Nocturnus echidna clan, giving him a bit of an edge with inside knowledge of how the mad scientists' machinery works.

A smile played across the fox's face as he got a great idea to mess with Sonic. He dove in and paddled out to where a wave was beginning to form, ready to try his new invention out. The wave rose higher and higher until it was an impressive distance over the fox's head. Tails stood upright and began to surf the curve, hanging ten off the edge of the board. Now was his chance.  
"HEY! SONIC! CHECK IT OUT! SONIC!" he began to yell. He squinted in the sunlight and could barely see Sonic on the shore, twitching in annoyance. "COME ON, SONIC! YOU SAID YOU'D WATCH! SONIC!"  
Sonic ripped off his shades and sat upright. "SHUT UP, TAILS!"  
At that moment, a sound like a cannon rattled the ground. A shadow blocked Sonic's sunlight, making him look up to see if any storm clouds were rolling in. Instead, he saw an immense wave heading towards him! Before he could react, the water already slammed down upon him and pulled his feet out from under him. Sonic really hated water, and his inability to swim was a big negative right about now. The hedgehog haplessly clawed at the muddy sand, but to no avail. Luckily, the brunt of the wave subsided before he was pulled out into the ocean.  
Pulling himself to his knees, he coughed violently for a bit before settling down and catching his breath. He looked over to his right to see Tails in equal shape, coughing and shivering.  
"What happened?" Sonic asked, coming to his buddy's side and placing a bare hand on his back to help knock out any inhaled water. He felt a thin layer of thick grime on the fox's fur, and he smelled horrible.  
"Something out there exploded. I got caught in the wave and almost drowned." He coughed again and sat up, looking very soggy and miserable. His eyes were slightly red from the saltwater and the slime, and more of it dripped off his whiskers. After the last of the water ran from his nose, the smell hit him. "EWW!" he cried, pinching his nose with his thumb and finger. "What's that smell?"  
"It's you, bud." Sonic answered, discretely wiping his hand off on one of the few unsoiled patches of the fox's fur. "What is that gunk?"  
Both stood and turned to see the ocean was now a lovely shade of purple, and so thick that not even the sunlight could penetrate it. The poor fish seemed suspended in it like gelatin, it was so thick. More washed ashore, creating frothing foam. All of it smelled like burning household cleaners. The smell was so bad Tails' throat began to feel rough and sore from the fumes.  
"Let's get out of here." He finally said, still holding his nose.  
"Wait, you see that?" Sonic pointed to the distance where someone appeared to be paddling towards the shore. "It could be a survivor. Let's wait and help."  
Tails moaned slightly, his throat feeling really uncomfortable from the fumes. His eyes began to sting too, adding to his already irritable mood.

After what seemed like an eternity to the fox, the figure finally made it to shore. Sonic and Tails both had their jaws agape when they saw who it was.  
"STREWTH! That was right bonzer, Mate!" cried the raccoon. She looked about 10 years old, and wore a green dress-like top with black, form fitting pants. She stood on bare, dark brown paws as she emptied the purple water out of her green boots.  
"MARINE!" Sonic asked. "Don't tell me we got blown into your dimension again."  
"No, Mate. I think I got blown into yours." She replied, putting her boots back on. "Or, I got sent here and that caused the explosion. I don't know." Marine began to ramble, which was even more incoherent with her Australian accent. She then got a whiff of Tails. "PHEW! You smell ripe, Mate. Makes me want to talk on the porcelain telephone." She held her nose.  
"Don't remind me." He grumbled, trying to wring some of the grime out of his tails.  
"Well, I see you're going off. Mind if I join?" the raccoon asked, seeing Sonic and Tails in their beach attire.  
"Of course! We could use the company." Tails agreed. He liked Marine, as she was one of the nicer friends he made.  
"Well, we do have to keep you safe if there's any more trouble, so…okay." Sonic nodded. "Do you know what happened out there?"  
"There was this big battleship that got blown cooee! Any old Joe Blow will tell ya it was a ripper! Well, I didn't think it was, but you get the idea."  
Tails had come back holding some kind of device. He scraped a sample of the slime off his fur with a claw, and placed it into the scanner. After a few minuets, it beeped, and Tails' face became a look of surprise.  
"What is it?" Sonic asked, noticing this.  
"Mega Mack." The fox breathed. "But what's it doing all the way out here?"  
"And on a battleship?" Sonic added, rubbing a finger under his nose. It was a nervous tic he had when deep in thought.  
"Don't come the raw prawn, Mates. What's all this Mega Mack stuff?" Marine asked, feeling a bit peeved she was being left out of the loop.  
"Nasty chemical made by Eggman, well…Robotnik actually, back in the day. Flooded a chemical plant on Westside Island with it. No one's been able to live there since." Sonic explained, sitting down to put his spiffy red sneakers on.  
"But why would a battleship full of it be all the way out here? I don't recall the military being part of the cleanup operation." Tails scratched behind his grimy ear.  
"They're not, dweeb. Which is why I've got a bad feeling about this."  
"RIPPER! Off to another adventure! I'll go get me..." Marine was cut off by Sonic grabbing her by the shoulders.  
"You are going to stay here with Tails and out of trouble. I'm gonna ask around. I've got sources on this island that might fill me in." he commanded.  
Sonic sped off, leaving the fox and the raccoon to their own devices. Tails desperately wanted to follow, but knew Marine left alone was a bad idea. Not that he didn't trust her, it was just that she was…well…overzealous sometimes.  
"So, Mate? What are we going to do?" she asked, turning her blue eyes towards Tails, who was still staring off after Sonic.  
He snapped out of his thoughts and turned to her. "I'm gonna go wash this gunk out of my fur before it makes me sick. Sonic and I are used to it, but not immune."  
"But I'll be bored!" Marine complained. "I want to set sail and go on a ripper adventure, Mate! I ain't just an ordinary Sheila!"  
Tails rummaged in his official Olympic gym bag he got from Beijing, and produced a small device with two screens and a stylus. "Here, play this. It should keep you occupied until I get back. Then we can get some samples to study."  
Marine stared at the game in her paws and sighed. 'Tails is such a nerd,' she thought to herself. 'But he's only tryin' to be nice to a Sheila. I suppose I could humor him.'

Tails sighed as the hot water washed over him. He could feel chunks of sea salt and the residue of the Mega Mack slowly falling out of his fur, and the water washing down the drain was a light shade of purple and beginning to foam.  
'This stuff is nasty. But I'm still curious why the military would want any of it? Rouge might know, but I don't want to bother her until I'm sure it's something serious. I hope Sonic finds something.'  
He closed his eyes and leaned himself up against the far wall of the shower. The silence of the little beach house Sonic and Tails had built the last time they vacationed here was a good place to gather one's thoughts. Most of the appliances and power came from the remains of Robotnik's robots and trashed labs. Sonic even ventured into the dangers of Mecha Green Hill to get some raw materials.  
"BLOODY TOSSER!" shouted Marine from downstairs. Tails smiled to himself, figuring he knew exactly where she was stuck in the game.

Sonic skidded to a halt in the middle of Green Hills and sniffed the air. There was no smell of robots or anything out of place. The exotic birds chirping in the trees and the distant sound of the jungle's massive waterfall were the only noise for miles.  
"Hey, Sonic! Long time no see!" a familiar voice called to him. Sonic turned to see a pair of long grey ears with black tips sticking out of a hole in the ground.  
"Johnny! What's going down, my man!" Sonic smiled at the sight of his childhood friend. Long before he joined the Freedom Fighters, Sonic had lived here with Johnny and his other friends. They were his and Tails' family.  
The ears rose up higher, revealing the grey and white bunny face of Johnny Lightfoot. His blue eyes twinkled in the sun as he hopped from his burrow. There was something different about him, however.  
"Diggin the new jacket!" Sonic commented, gesturing to the red jacket hanging off Johnny's shoulders.  
"Oh this? Yeah, it's cool." Johnny admired it himself, but sounded nonchalant about it. He was just as modest as Sonic, which wasn't very modest at all. "What's up?"  
"Some ship carrying Mega Mack exploded and infected the water. Then one of our, other dimensional, friends dropped in unexpectedly."  
"Other dimensional?" Johnny asked, rubbing his paw behind his ear.  
"Yeah, remember when I told you about Blaze and Marine and our adventures against that Eggman Negga dude?"  
"Oh yeah. So Blaze is here?" Johnny kind of wanted to meet this feisty feline he heard so much about.  
"No, Marine." Sonic replied flatly.  
"Ouch." Johnny was sympathetic. All he knew of her was from what Sonic told him, which was a pretty biased account, mind you.  
"Nah, she means well. Just, overeager is all."  
"Oddly enough, I saw that ragtag group of obsolete Badniks come by here not too long ago. They were all carrying something and Moto Bug was bossing them around."  
"Reeeeeeally?" Sonic rubbed his chin in mock thought. "Which way?"  
"That way. Knowing you, you should be able to catch up to them."  
Sonic was already gone, the only thing left behind was a faint "Thank's Johnny!" in the wind.

"Get past the level?" Tails asked, drying behind his ears.  
"Nah, I gave up. You all clean now?" the raccoon asked, sitting herself upright.  
"Yeah." Tails sat on the couch next to her and sighed. His eyes widened as he had a thought, and reached for the small computer on the table. He pulled his bare feet up onto the couch and balanced the device on his knees as Marine looked over his shoulder.  
"What ya doin, Mate?"  
"I just thought of something. You'll see."  
Indeed, Tails did think of something. He remembered that program Rouge had given him to access GUN's databases when needed. She knew they would only use it for heroic things, and the Commander didn't seem to mind. Sonic and his friends had done so much for them that this was their way of broadening their teamwork to make a more efficient task force. Especially if those Black Arms ever came back, or worse.  
What Tails didn't realize, is that GUN didn't want to reveal all their secrets. For national security of course, what with the war going on and all. Any searches for Mega Mack only brought up public record data files. Tails didn't bother digging further. He knew he could if he wanted, but didn't want to break that trust.  
"Can I check my Facebook, Mate?" Marine asked.  
Tails looked at her for a moment, slightly incredulous, then sighed and handed her the computer.

"Eggman is such a bench jockey, that's why he's so fat." One of the Baseball Bats joked, eliciting snickers from the others.  
"Did you see any Badniks come by here?" Sonic asked.  
"You mean that league of their own, taxi squad? Man, they came by here acting like they found Babe Ruth or something. I never seen such a group of dirt dogs."  
"Sounds pretty out of character." Sonic noted.  
"If they're not careful, they're going to suffer the curse of the Bambino. You'll come along and ruin their plans."  
"You know, I heard them talking about a group or something. Lots of phantom ballplayers were mentioned." Another bat chimed in. "Unless our friend Sonic's stories are not to be believed."  
"Like who?"  
"Well, a bunch of your old robotic copies for one. Seems they've formed a special team, and those Badniks seem to be the sandwich pick."  
"PFFT!" Sonic waved a paw dismissively. "If some clandestine group of thought destroyed robots had come together and plotted my annihilation, I would've known about it by now."  
"Don't make an error, dude. If what I hear is going on, they're all a bunch of Yankee Killers now. We don't want you to be out for good."  
"Yeah, man. You go against them it'll be a shutout for sure." The one bat added.


	3. Of Hawks and Dragons

Jet the Hawk sighed as he sat in his small office aboard the Babylon Rogues airship. It had been a disappointing week, to be sure, what with those kids claiming to be part of the Battle Bird Armada hassling him at the skate park where he honed his skills, as well as the lack of any treasure or anything else worth wile, taxed the green hawk.  
He swiveled around in his chair and stared up at the looming painting of his father. He was a great man, and led the Babylon Rogues to many great goals. Goals Jet wished he could accomplish. Sometimes, when alone, Jet felt like the painting was staring at him, silently disproving his every move, his every failure. It was hard to follow in such massive footsteps, but to give up entirely would be the ultimate failure.

After finding the Gravity Engine, and the very first Extreme Gear, they proved to be lackluster devices among the other inventions of Babylon. His ancestors were just as mortal as he was, and that crushed Jet's ego a bit. Here he thought he was a descendent of aliens, least that's what the Babylon Garden alleged, acting like a spaceship and all.  
Thus, the hawks attention was once again averted to the email on his computer. It was from a Professor Pickle in Spagonia, England. He said he had something interesting to reveal to the hawk, something that may peek his interest. Who he was, and how he knew Jet to contact him, was a mystery. But, with nothing better to do, he ordered the airship to head to Spagonia to see what this was all about.

"Jet?" A voice at the door snapped him from his thoughts. "Are you alright?"  
"Come in."  
The door opened, and in stepped Wave the Swallow. Her pink feathers contrasted sharply with her white tank top and bell bottoms. "You seemed depressed, you want to talk?"  
"It's nothing. Maybe this Pickle guy will tell us something." Jet swung his red boots up onto his desk. "After all, not like we got anything else going on." he said as he leaned back and closed his eyes.  
"If this is about those kids at the park, don't worry about it." Wave said half coyly as she sauntered over to the desk and sat on the edge of it.  
"It's not them." Jet sighed, taking his feet down and sitting back up. He spun his chair to look at the painting again. "I think he's staring at me."  
Wave looked up at the portrait and scoffed slightly. "Yeah, it kind of creeps me out sometimes too."  
"No, I mean, I feel like such a letdown. He's up there, somewhere, looking down on me and shaking his head in disappointment."  
"Don't beat yourself up over it. You've accomplished a lot of things. Mainly, making friends that I'm sure your father wished he had."  
"I guess...but it's so annoying sometimes. Like I'm hitting a wall. Sonic gets all this success, and I have to make us resort back to the petty thievery of our ancestors because I can't find anything worth wile to sell!"  
"Regardless of what happens, we'll always be by your side." Wave assured, placing a hand on Jet's shoulder.  
"Thanks..." Jet managed a smirk as he looked at the swallow.

Wave walked out, leaving Jet back to his own thoughts. Perhaps now would be the time things will look up.

The flight to Spagonia was pretty smooth, and now Jet found himself sitting in an old study. The smell of old ink from the various tomes that loomed over him from their high and mighty positions on oaken shelves, mixed with the faint smell of cucumber. It wasn't an unpleasant combination, but certainly awkward.  
Staring at what had to be the tackiest carpet he had ever seen, Jet then glanced up to see a table filled with open books of sizable thickness, star charts, various maps and scrolls, and a heavy stone tablet resting on the floor against the table leg.

"Ah! So glad you could make it!" a voice called out, snapping Jet's attention to the approaching figure. His long nose and bushy eyebrows belied a man smarter than he behaved. His body was hunched over with age and wear, and his dark brown suit had spots of mayonnaise and cucumber seed on the lapels. He held out a hand, gesturing to the chair. "I am Professor Esme Pickle. Please, sit."  
Jet looked around to see who he was talking too, then down at the chair he was already sitting in. Cocking a brow, Jet began to have his suspicions about this guy.

"There is much to explain, and not enough time to do so! I have made a discovery of tremendous proportions, and I figured you, being one of the few surviving Babylonian descendants, would want to hear this news."  
The green hawk shifted uncomfortably in the chair. Partially out of anticipation, and partially out of fear for what he might learn.  
"I have studied the Gaia Manuscripts for a long time, but only recently did the revelation hit me. Dark Gaia is only a name we given the creature in this time, and it's ambiguous gender caused me false assumption it was male. In reality, in the past, Dark Gaia was known as Tiamat."  
Jet's interest was immediately perked. He remembered the Babylonian myths told to him by his parents, and after his experiences so far, it was safe to assume this was real too.  
"As you know, Tiamat was a draconian beast said to be responsible for the creation of earth and sea when her son Marduk slew her. But it appears that a being of that kind of power can never fully be destroyed, and Marduk didn't slay her, but instead banished her. Hence the thousand year cycle."

So Professor Pickle took a moment to pour some tea, and proceeded to regale Jet with the things he had learned.


	4. The Pawns Move Into Play

Why did he have to remember?

Shadow supposed it was because of his Chaos abilities that allowed him too. Everyone else was blissfully unaware how close they came to oblivion, but Shadow remembered every bit of it. Most of all, he remembered...him...

Perhaps it was those thoughts that drove him to come to Soleanna, Venice. He decided that GUN was becoming too war mongering in their preparation for more Eggman assaults. "Got to maintain the homeland security" they would say. Shadow would always scoff and believe it was to maintain their public image. Outside the Commander, Rouge, and Topaz, everyone else was either old enough to remember the ARK incident and therefore be to old to be of any use and slightly prejudice against Shadow, or the new guys would think they were hotshots and screw up, almost getting killed.

Whatever the case, the black hedgehog had enough, and decided to put his skills to use as an Agent in Soleanna. It was a job he held briefly, and partially enjoyed. Not that he really had bills to pay or anything, but a living was a living. He may not be able to erase his troubled past, but he could more than make up for it in good deeds.

But it was being here that was stirring those memories. Things that couldn't be erased no matter how simplistic it all seemed back then. He was an abomination, and it wasn't a matter of if, but when, he would find a way to resurface. Those thoughts were left to fade, however, as Shadow sat idly at one of the restaurants, staring out the window at the approaching rain. He glanced at his phone, noticing that Rouge had been calling him quite a bit lately, and with good reason. As far as the bat was concerned, he had dropped off the face of the earth. Sighing, and noticing his hand slightly trembling with mild trepidation at the scolding he would receive, picked up his phone and called Rouge.

Topaz sighed to herself, brushing her brown hair from her eyes as she stared at the immense pile of folders on her desk. It was her fault, being the curious cuss she is. One thing led to another, to another, and next thing she knew, she had fifty plus years of documentation piled in front of her. Sifting though it was going to be a nightmare. Rouge was supposed to help, but she was late as always. Just when the human was about to curse her partner's name, the bat sashayed into the office with a smirk. She parked herself on the edge of Topaz's desk like she always did, but still couldn't see her behind the pile.

"What's all this junk?" Rouge asked, looking in surprise at the pile.  
"Stuff YOU were supposed to help me with." Topaz grumbled. "But aside from that, I found something interesting. Something from a long time ago that connects to our suspect, and to Shadow, of all people."  
"Really? Just when you think you know a guy. Here I thought we learned everything there was to know about him."  
"It doesn't involve him, per se, just Professor Gerald Robotnik and some place called Cyber City. Odd thing is, all files about Cyber City have been blacked out or are just plain missing."  
"Missing?"  
"Folders are there, but they're empty. Almost as if Cyber City was some sort of cover up..."

Topaz stopped talking when Rouge signaled to her over the pile. Captain Westwood was coming. Westwood stopped at the doorway, looked at the pile and the bat sitting next to it smiling as sweetly as a girl who just broke something, sneered, and walked off.  
Rouge giggled slightly, remembering the jokes her and Topaz would come up with about him over coffee.

"Anyway, I think it's something we should leave alone. I've already heard rumors that Commander is keeping Westwood under a microscope for whatever reason. No sense in me getting fired over something too." Topaz almost looked disappointed.  
"Nonsense! We just pursue this on our own time. It's too bad Shadow isn't here to help..."

Rouge's phone rang, a sexy saxophone tune, muffled by something. The bat produced her phone from her cleavage, shot Topaz a look of 'don't judge me', and answered.  
"Hello?"  
"Hello...Rouge..."  
She almost fell off the desk. "SHADOW! Where have you been! I've been worried si...I mean, I was wondering where you got off too."  
"Don't play coy, I know you missed me." Shadow smirked.  
"Still as charming as ever, I see..."  
"I missed you too."

Rouge was silent. "Well, what made you finally decide to return my calls?"  
"I don't know. I've been thinking lately, about things. Things you wouldn't understand."  
"Such as?"  
"You wouldn't remember. But I do, and I've got an unsettling feeling it's about to make a comeback."  
"What's about to make a comeback?"

"Mephiles..."


	5. The Final Player Arrives

Why did he have to remember?

It was for her sake of course, so her sacrifice wouldn't have been in vain. These troubling nightmares of a future that almost happened, also served to honor the bravest of all them. The one hero who didn't get a comeback when everything erased itself.

The one unfairly ripped from his life...

Silver the Hedgehog missed Blaze the Cat greatly, more than anyone could ever comprehend. He had gotten over his deep depression eventually of course, what with the looming threats of Eggman Negga and all. She used to fight at his side against the mad doctor, the Sonic to his Tails it seemed. Silver was new to saving the world, and Blaze was always supportive, stepping naturally into the hero role. Guess it was true cats have no fear.

But that abomination, that demon, was responsible for Silver losing her. In order to remember the good times they had, in order to preserve her sacrifice, he had to remember the bad times too. It was a painful burden that no man should have to carry, yet somehow, Silver felt Blaze would be proud of him for doing so. Bearing his cross while still maintaining the status quo of good vs evil.

Strangely, Eggman Negga had been quiet, being stuck in the Ifrit Dimension and all. It was a grand plan that involved a mythical creature and the ritual sacrifice of hundreds of Chao to feed it. After meeting the Dr. Eggman of the past, Silver realized how truly insane Eggman Negga was, and that made it all the more imperative to defeat him. He wasn't just homicidal, he was omnicidal. Most of his plans were even suicidal.

But now, without Blaze to help, and without Eggman Negga to divert his attentions, Silver's mind began to wander back to that albatross around his neck. The thoughts ate at him, trying to satiate their hunger for sorrow that they have so long been deprived.

Finally pulling himself out of bed, he managed to stumble out into the small living quarters of his futuristic home. The future was a technological paradise, not a flaming wasteland of hell presided over by a beast of lava. It was Silver and Blaze's ultimate triumph, that only he remembered. Sometimes, Silver would want to tell some disrespectful punk of what he had to go through to make a better life for him and his family. But it would fall on deaf ears, ears that would only hear crazy. The greatest accomplishments are the ones that remain unknown.

"Help..me..."  
Silver looked around frantically. Where did that voice come from?  
"Help...I'm dying..."  
The hedgehog was panicking now. That didn't sound like Blaze, so who was it?  
"Help..."

It was a psychic communication! A cry for help from someone else gifted with the ability. Silver thought he only has psychokinesis, the ability to manipulate objects with his mind. He never knew he could receive psychic messages.  
Springing into action, Silver didn't even grab his boots before running outside. What he saw, was horrifying. Everything was in ruin, much like before, only without all the lava and fire. Instead of the hellish world Ibliss had created, everything was now haunted ruins. As much as Silver hated what Ibliss had done, there was at least something going on. Now, the empty remains of cities were silent and eerie, creating an ambiance more unsettling than dangling over a pool of lava.

"help..." the voice called, growing weaker. Silver immediately ran in the direction he sensed the call, his bare feet kicking up ash and garbage. The sky was polluted with more ash, and the faint smell of rotting flesh hung in the air. Not overpowering, but enough to serve as a warning.

Stopping for cover in the shadow of a nearby building, the hedgehog took in his surroundings, his golden eyes scrambling as his mind struggled to put together the images of horror they were assaulted with. Everything was somehow WORSE than before! How was that possible? What happened...?

He finally got his answer, as he witnessed a fight in the ruined streets. One was a large golem made of black rock held together by a purple glow of supernatural origin. The other, was a small, egg shaped robot, painted black with a large yellow stripe over each shoulder, almost resembling Eggman's old uniform. It's most distinguishing feature, was the helmet it wore looked a lot like someone Silver knew.

"Sonic...?" Silver whispered as he watched the standoff. None of this made sense.

The hedgehog helmeted robot opened fire, surprisingly hurting the goelm enough to send it into a rage. It swung it's granite fists, smashing the robot like a soda can. Silver winced and looked away, thinking Sonic was inside that armor. But glancing back, he saw it was just that, a robot.  
After the fight, all was clear as the golem teleported away. Silver continued the trek, so entranced and in awe at the sights he didn't even notice the feeling of actual grass beneath his feet. When he finally realized it, he saw he was in a small, makeshift cemetery. Headstones were crooked and rotting, bearing names Silver had never heard. But one in particular had more damage. It was obvious this one was vandalized by someone who hated this person.

Silver knelt and brushed away the moss and ash, reading the name.

HERE LIES OLGILVIE MAURICE HEDGEHOG  
KNOWN EVERYWHERE AS SONIC THE HEDGEHOG  
HERO, FRIEND, SAVIOR

"This can't be right..." Silver rose and began to back up, fright lighting up his eyes. "What happened to cause all this?"

"help...I'm down here..."  
Silver glanced down at the grave and noticed it was slightly dug up, and lying on the pile was some sort of bracelet. It was made of gold and had what appeared to be a rather large pearl set onto it.  
Hesitating, Silver knelt to pick it up, and as soon as his hand wrapped around it, his mind was flooded with raw emotion. After the euphoria, and everything settled, the voice came loud and clear.

"Thank you! I hope you don't mind, but I kind of borrowed your mind to stay alive." the voice sounded almost childlike.  
"Stay alive?"  
"I'm one with the Earth and all it's creatures. As you can see by the surroundings, everything is dying, which means I am dying too, and so is my sister. Without her, nothing can stop this evil."  
"Sister? Who are you?"  
"Well, I know you are Silver the Hedgehog now. I can sense the good in your heart. You remind me of someone I once knew long ago. So you can call me what he did, I guess."  
"Which was?"

"Chip."


	6. Opening Gambit

Sonic skidded to a halt in a clearing and ducked behind a bush. Following the leads from his friends, he finally found Moto Bug and his gang, setting up a bunch of antennas.

"Hurry up, Sonic might be onto us! If we get this signal array set up, we'll get to join the Brotherhood for sure!" Moto Bug commanded, waving his claws in the air.  
"Brotherhood?" Sonic whispered to himself. Was this that mystery group the Baseball Bats were talking about?  
"Signal array is set up and ready to be activated!" Burrbot saluted, his drill nose covered in dirt from planting the antennas.  
"Good! Now we shall.."  
"Hey, dumbots! Why wasn't I invited to the party?" Sonic leapt from his hiding spot and dropped into a fighting stance.

"SONIC! Crap! Guys, get him! GET HIM!" Moto Bug shouted. The other obsolete Badniks charged the hedgehog, oblivious to their certain fate. In a flurry of Sonic spins, the horde was reduced to scrap.

Sonic landed and dusted himself off, glancing up just in time to see Moto Bug make a run for it, his little wheel carrying him as fast as he could. He easily caught up to the robot, flipping him over and smirking at his helpless twitching and rolling.  
"It's too late! The array has already been activated! Soon, the Brotherhood will begin their operation and nothing can stop them!"  
"What's all this Brotherhood nonsense?" Sonic asked, scowling at these riddles that forced him to think longer than he wanted to.  
"You'll find out, soon enough. The Brotherhood of Metallix will prevail!" Moto Bug managed to roll himself back upright and sped off, leaving a confused Sonic to ponder all this.

"Signal Array is online." EggRobo announced, glancing from his monitor. EggRobo was one of many units modeled after Robotnik's likeness, and the only survivor of his ilk after Sonic destroyed them all in the Sky Sanctuary ruins of Angel Island. Since then, he has been in various places, acting as a spy to a better cause.  
"Excellent. Activate the others and prepare for the arrival." a shadowy figure commanded, sitting upon a ornate metallic throne.

Another robot, this one resembling Sonic but bulkier, approached the figure and knelt down, it's cycloptic eye glowing a sinister red in the darkness. "I have sequestered the EggRobo remains and shall begin operations at once."  
"Very well, Mega Sonic. You better hope your infantry fights better than you did in Sky Sanctuary."  
"Yes, Commander."

The shadowy figure leaned forward, the dim lighting reflecting off it's body, piercing green eyes glowing in the darkness of it's sockets. It resembled a certain echidna but that was it. Completely inorganic and only seeing the light of day for the first time in years, it was a hollow victory because his leadership came from the destruction of his brother. As many times as his brother was placed in storage, he was sure he was envious that the echidna didn't get the same treatment.

But now, he would carry on in his brother's goal. Mecha Knuckles would begin the march to complete domination by machines, and not even Sonic could stop him.

"So what did you find out, Sonic?" Tails asked, walking up to his returning hero.  
"Not much. All the old Badniks are trashed except for Moto Bug, he was rambling something about a Brotherhood of Metallix, they built a signal array or something and..."  
"You didn't destroy it did you?" Tails cocked a brow.  
Sonic rolled his eyes, slightly annoyed. "No, because I know you would want to '_study_' it." he replied sarcastically, making quotes in the air. "One of these days I'm going to leave something alone and you'll regret it!" he added, cracking a smirk.  
It was Tails' turn to roll his eyes now.

"What's all this talk about a Brotherhood, eh? Mind lettin' a Sheila in on the action, mate?" Marine asked.  
"We still have to figure out how _you_ got here." Sonic stated, pointing at the raccoon.  
"You don't think the signal array has something to do with dimensional gateways, would it?" Tails asked.  
"A good theory, but this was built _after_ Marine arrived." Sonic pointed out, showing surprising attention to detail not thought possible by his rapid firing brain.  
"Did they mention anything about Mega Mack?" Tails asked, figuring a theory was a good as nothing.  
"Nope." Sonic shrugged, "didn't have any on them either."

"This is turning out to be some vacation, huh?" Marine asked, placing her arms on their shoulders.  
Now both rolled their eyes.


	7. Puppetmaster

"As you can see, we here at GUN not only make great strides in warfare, but in other fields of technology as well. Technology for the good of mankind, and alternative energy sources! Here we see our new wing, the Wisp Breeding Program, in a hopes to one day harness their strange Hyper Go On energy to power cities around the world without polluting the environment!"

"What's with the tour group?" Rouge nodded towards the group of white coats eagerly taking notes.  
"Some new mandatory PR crap to improve the nations trust in us and the government as a whole. I think it's all a joke." Westwood scoffed, downing the remains of his coffee. He crushed the cup in his hand. "Like they think show and tell will fix what's wrong with this system?" He ran a hand through his red hair, kept neat in a buzzcut.

Rouge cocked a brow at this. Westwood seemed pissed, and with good reason. Topaz had said Commander was putting the squeeze on him. Maybe he didn't have anything to hide.

Maybe Rouge would stop stealing gems.

RIIIIGHT...

Westwood stormed off, leaving Rouge surprised he would even of talk to her at all. She thought about following, then remembered Topaz still needed her help sorting through the files she found. Sighing, she headed back to the office.

"All agents report to the meeting room." the voice over the intercom commanded, prompting all the top level agents into the small conference room where Commander was readying his presentation. Once everyone was seated and the lights were dimmed, he began.

"As you all may know, we are in pursuit of a suspect that hits a bit close to home." he projected an image from the laptop nearby onto the screen. It was of an albino hedgehog with hazel green eyes. "Agent Nazo was one of our best field agents back in the day, always willing to do what it takes and going above and beyond. Some of you that were here during that time, know it was a tragic loss when he was killed in the line of duty."

Some of the older agents nodded in agreement, leaving Rouge, Topaz and a few young ones wondering what happened.

"Apparently," Commander continued, "there have been reports that Nazo is somehow alive and has been sighted in Station Square. Witness have said he was talking about revenge and being left for dead. You all know none of these claims are true, as we did our best to save him. This imposter, from what we've studied, looks, acts, and thinks like Agent Nazo, meaning that he's done his homework and possibly knows some sensitive information. Information that we can't let him divulge to other parties out of petty revenge."

At this point, Rouge glanced over to Topaz and shrugged, then noticed Westwood standing against the far wall. He checked his phone, then walked out of the room. This piqued the bat's curiosity.

"Excuse me, I have to go to the little girls room." Rouge raised her hand, winking at Topaz in a sly manner.

Commander nodded and she left. Once outside the room, she noticed Westwood was nowhere to be found, so decided to explore around. Walking by the mens room, she heard Westwood talking to someone. Pressing her sensitive ear to the door, she held her breath subconsciously as she listened.

"What is it, Doctor Narasu?"  
The gaunt, middle aged, Asian man on the other end held up his finding, smiling as the light reflected off his glasses. "I have found something very interesting. It looks like a Chaos Emerald, but it's different! It radiates energy, but of the opposing wavelength of what a Chaos Emerald would! I've never seen anything like it!"  
"If this is another one of your mad scientist ideas, forget it! I had to do enough covering up after that multi-color Sonic clone incident!"  
Rouge slapped a hand over her mouth before her gasp gave her away. If Westwood was behind that, no telling what else he would be behind.  
"How is it coming obtaining some of those Wisp lifeforms for me?" Narasu asked.  
"I'm working on it! Just be thankful I gave you a job at all!"  
"Fair enough." Narasu said, a frown on his face.  
"Just don't call me at work again. I'm under surveillance, and if I go down, you're all coming with me."

At this point, Rouge had ducked into the womens restroom to avoid being caught. She stared at herself in the mirror, analyzing her puzzled and shocked expression. She never did trust Westwood, but would anyone else believe her?

After what seemed like an eternity of standing in silence with thoughts swirling in her head, a knock on the door snapped her out of it.  
"Rouge, are you okay?" Topaz called.  
The bat shook her head, clearing out any lingering cobwebs, and instantly turned on the water.  
"I'm fine...just...forgot to wash my hands..."  
Rouge walked out of the restroom, staring at the floor. She glanced up and shot Topaz a fake smile, then walked off back to their office. Topaz knew something was wrong, but didn't know how to go about asking.

She followed, and shut the door behind her. "What's wrong."  
"Nothing." Rouge replied.  
"I got us the Nazo case. Sounds pretty interesting."  
"Westwood is a traitor." Rouge answered flatly.  
"What? No!" Topaz exclaimed sarcastically.  
"I'm serious! I heard him talking to some guy named Dr. Narasu about something. I even heard him say he was covering up that colored Sonic clone incident."  
Topaz's expression changed to one of concern. She sat down at her computer and began a search.

"Here we are, Doctor Kai Narasu. Seems he was a prominent professor at Station Square University until Sonic came along. He believed that Sonic was a robot, as it was the only explanation for how he could run so fast. Staked his entire career on it, and lost it all. No one heard from him since."  
Rouge shook her head. "Westwood never struck me as liking Sonic either. Maybe they're working together?"  
"Possibly. But until we can prove it, we can't say anything."  
Rouge produced her cellphone and began dialing.

"Who are you calling?"  
"Someone who can help us."

Standing on the historic Rialto Bridge, Shadow sighed while overlooking the still, clear waters. Why couldn't he get rid of this gut feeling that Mephiles was coming back someday?  
Before he could ponder any further, his phone rang.


	8. A Warriors Vow

Silver stood at the looming ruins of an office building. Nearby, the remains of a large red bridge sank slowly into the polluted waters, as black as coal with oil and debris.

The rusted sign said it all...

WELCOME TO STATION SQUARE, SAN FRANCISCO

"How did this happen, Chip?" Silver asked, still taken aback by the sheer destruction before him.  
"Well, from what I can remember, I witnessed this place destroyed by a big robot thing, then not to long after the robots took over, this demon started fighting them for control. I sense no heart or any life in either of them, only complete evil." Chip explained. "That is why it is so vital for me and my sister to survive, we could complete our cycle. She would wipe the earth clean of these evil things, and I could rebuild it, and allow it to heal."  
"And...if you can't...?"  
"Then everything left will die, the earth will wither away to dust, and the evil beings will expand their war to the stars and beyond."  
"I didn't want to hear that..."  
"Sorry..."  
"No...it's okay...it's just..." Silver sighed, "Blaze would know what to do."  
"From being in your mind, I've seen glimpses of her in your memories. You must really miss her."

Tears began to form in Silver's eyes and he hammered his fist on the sign. "IT'S NOT FAIR! SHE SHOULD'VE COME BACK TOO! Everyone else got what they wanted, why couldn't I...I lost the most..." At this point, he was on his knees, shivering with rage and sadness.  
"When I left Sonic, to go back to hibernation...I could feel his sadness. He didn't show it, but it was there. I felt bad, but I knew he would carry on for me, and I would see him again someday. Just...not like this..." Chip explained.  
Silver managed a weak smile. "Yeah...Blaze wouldn't want me moping over what I can't fix. But I can fix this! I have to! Maybe I can find a way to travel back to the past! Like I did before!"  
"Being in your mind, I can boost the powers you already have. But time traveling is something I'm to weak to perform. You have to find another way."  
"There is one way, but..." Silver took off running, "I just hope he's still gone."

Eggman Negga was never one for organization, as his chaotic thoughts reflected. But his lab was a mess even by his standards. Not only did it appear to take the brunt of the assault, but it also looked as if it had been converted. Silver hesitantly stepped inside the dark corridors and worked his way to where the time machine was. The time machine that he had used before to pursue Eggman Negga into the past during his schemes.

Passing by one room in particular, Silver noticed a pair of lights, faintly glowing red. Bracing for a robot attack, instead he got nothing. After waiting for a few moments to be sure, he stepped into the room and felt for a switch.

Turing on the light, Silver gasped in shock at what was before him.

It was a black and yellow robot, vaguely humanoid, and almost completely disassembled. It's glowing eyes almost resembled the eyes of a dying man.

"Who..what are you...?" Silver knew Eggman Negga was a monster, but this was the last straw.  
"I...am...G-Mel...I...am a...Gizoid..."  
"What happened to you?"  
"Metal...Metal Overlord absorbed me...and used me...my power...to destroy everything...I couldn't...be...destroyed,...so I was imprisoned here..."  
"I'm going to fix this, G-Mel. I promise." Silver punctuated with his fist clenched.  
"Metal...Overlord...is...too powerful..."  
"I'm going to the past, to make sure this, or anything else like this, ever happens again."

"Metal...Overlord...is...is..." G-Mel shut down, this time, forever.

"Rest easy friend, because I'm going to ensure that you reawaken." Silver muttered, hanging his head in mourning.


	9. The Exalted Crown

Jet sat in his captains chair, overlooking the bridge as Wave and Storm piloted the airship towards the Shamar Desert in Jordan. Professor Pickle told him a lot about Tiamat, Babylonian creation, the Chaos Emeralds playing significance in their fixation on the number 7, and more. It was all very interesting, if not boring in it's presentation.

"So we're looking for this place our ancestors built called the Temple of the Seven Lights?" Wave asked, never hearing of such a structure. Her time was spent in mechanics and experiments, not musty history books.  
"Well, we have to find the Chaos Emeralds first, of course." Jet explained. "But I just want to be sure where it is and if we can find it before we waste all that effort."  
"And you said something about artifacts we had to find too?"  
"Three of them. A crown, a shield, and a scepter."  
"There's a nasty storm brewing boss." Storm the Albatross said, pointing out the windshield at the approaching clouds, grayer than his feathers.

The storm quickly increased in intensity. Before Jet could question the impossibility of this, a lighting strike rocked the ship, sending him reeling backwards and hitting his head.  
Once everything came too, Jet sat up rubbing his head. Once he opened his eyes, he saw he was alone, and in the middle of the desert. The airship, nor his team, were to be found.

"What happened?" he asked himself, pulling himself from the sand.  
"Hey! Watch it!" a familiar voice cried, catching the hawk in time before he collided with the figure.  
"Oh, sorry, didn't see you..." Jet stopped when he saw Tails looking up at him. The look in his eyes conveyed he never seen the hawk before, and his clothes reflected that something was really out of place.  
"Tails? Why are you dressed in that getup?"  
The fox looked at himself, clad in gold shoes that curled at the toe, white pants, purple shirt, and a turban, wrapped to accommodate his ears.  
"I've always worn this. Who is this Tails you speak of?"  
"You! You're Tails!" Jet elaborated, figuring he hit his head a bit too hard.  
"No," the fox smirked, shaking his head slightly. "I'm Ali Baba!"

Jet sat in the comfort of the small hut as Tails...er...Ali Baba prepared him something to drink.  
"You must've traveled a long way to get here. We don't get many visitors from Babylon." the fox handed Jet a cup of tea.  
"How did you know I was..."  
"Your markings." Ali Baba explained, pointing to the dark green flame pattern on the hawks wrists. "All Babylonians have them."  
"Well, I was looking for Chaos Emeralds, have you heard of them?"  
"Only legends, though King Shahryar claims that he has one on his crown."  
"Crown?" Jet remembered Professor Pickle told him one of the artifacts was a crown.  
Ali Baba nodded. "Yes. But no one wants to cross him. He can bring the wrath of Allah down upon us."  
"Where can I find him?"  
Ali Baba cocked a brow. "You want audience with King Shahryar? The desert sun must have done more to you than I thought!"

A knock at the door caught their attention. Ali Baba glanced at the hawk. "Were you followed here?"  
Jet shook his head.

Ali Baba prepared and answered the door. Before him was a white hedgehog with two long quills coming of the back of his head. His golden eyes hidden slightly by his frill of bangs upon his forehead. He wore a loose fitting white robe and shoes that curled at the toes.  
"My name is Aladdin, and I am hungry from my journey. Can you help me?"  
"I suppose I could give you some dates and camel milk. Come in."

Jet looked at the almost silver colored hedgehog and smirked uncomfortably. The hedgehog smiled back until Ali Baba broke the silence.  
"What land are you from?"  
"I am from Adabat. Far East of here." the hedgehog replied.  
"Why travel so far?"  
"I found a lamp, that held a Djinn. I wished for a bride, and got one. But an evil sorcerer tricked me and took the lamp and my bride. I followed him here using this."  
The hedgehog held up a golden ring inset with a red jewel. "This contains a lesser Djinn, and she will help me obtain what was taken from me."

Elsewhere, a red and black hedgehog was getting nowhere. He glared at the lamp, deciding if to rub it or not, then finally did so.  
A cloud of thick purple smoke emerged and began to take shape. Vaguely humanoid and ripped with muscle, the pink skinned Djinn rose before the hedgehog.  
"WHO SUMMONS ERAZOR DJINN?" his voice boomed.  
"I did. You're new Master." the hedgehog snapped, weary of the genie's theatrics.  
"Of course...Master..." the way he said that word dripped with animosity.  
"I have kidnapped the princess like you commanded. You had best hold up your end of the bargain." the hedgehog pointed threateningly at the Djinn.

Erazor threw his head back in laughter, then brushed his long red braid of hair from his face. "Ironic how the Master takes orders from the Djinn! This princess is important, as she holds the Flames of Iblees within her, and as such, can open the gates of Jahannam to free my Djinn brothers!"  
"As long as it grants me the power I deserve." the hedgehog retorted.  
"Oh it will. Once you make your final wish, the entire world will be yours." Erazor replied, a vile smirk across his face.

The hedgehog glared at the princess, who was bound and gagged in a corner. He approached the feline and looked into her defiant eyes, seeing the fire behind them. She would tear his face off if given the chance. Which is why the hedgehog kept her confined.  
"No doubt that fool Aladdin will come for you. I'll be ready."


	10. A Friend Of My Friend

"They have to be around here, somewhere..." Blaze the Cat thought to herself as she looked around the forested area she had arrived in. Someone had found a way to pull her Sol Emeralds through into this dimension, and that someone had to still be here.

How they managed such a dimensional rift wasn't of her concern right now. All she wanted, was to get them back. She cautiously treked deeper into the forest, keeping her sharp eyes and ears alert for any dangers that might show themselves.

"Look! There's some over here! Come on!" a child's voice was heard.  
"Okay, okay! I'm coming! Slow down!" a female voice replied.

Blaze was cautious as she approached an opening in the treeline to peer through. She saw a small rabbit, no more than six, picking flowers. Blaze immediately remembered her as Cream, but she was curious of the others with her.

The first was a humanoid robot, with a black and yellow paint scheme on it's armor. By it's behavior, it wasn't a threat, despite resembling something Eggman might build. The other was completely new, a female echidna who was colored a creamy orange. She wore a tank top and jeans, standing barefoot in the grass as Cream filled the basket held by their robot companion with flowers.

Blaze wanted to emerge and say hi, see Cream's eyes light up when she saw her again. But this new girl made her hesitate. She began to scold herself, figuring she would learn her lesson from meeting Sonic and Cream. For too long she remained emotionally distant from everyone, but for a very good reason. For within her, dwelled the Flames of Disaster.

No one but her remembered that day, at least so she believed. She made a vow to not get close to anyone, to forgo any emotional attachment to people, so there would be no chance for her to cry and break the seal. Blaze was the sensitive type, but this burden forced her to become cold and alone. After Silver had warped her to another dimension, she was found and appointed Guardian of the Sol Emeralds, partially due to her remarkable powers.

Being Guardian was the prefect job. The lack of interaction meant no chance of being heartbroken or made upset. But after meeting Sonic, it began to trigger memories of Silver, how upset he was to send her away. She was sure he was upset that she didn't come back like she promised, and felt ashamed he became another causality to her own self preservation.

Steeling herself, she made her approach.

"Hello, Cream..." she muttered.  
The rabbit froze for a moment, her wide eyes filled with the surprise of a kid on Christmas morning. "BLAZE! You came back!" she squeeled, and instantly ran towards the feline, who crouched down to meet her warm embrace. As she pulled away, she noticed tears of joy in the child's eyes.  
"I'm happy to see you too."

Cream signaled to the others. "Over here!"  
The two walked up and stood, not wanting to rob Cream of the honor of introducing her friend.  
"This is G-Mel! He used to be an evil robot, but Tails reprogrammed him and now he's my friend!" the rabbit explained, pointing to the robot.  
"And her name is Shade!" now she pointed to the barefoot echidna. "She can explain where she's from better than I can!"  
Shade giggled. "Some other time, maybe." She looked at Blaze. "So, you're this Blaze I've heard so much about. Nice to meet a fellow warrior."  
"Likewise, I guess..." Blaze trailed off, glancing away as she shook hands.  
"What's wrong?" Shade asked, worried that she had offended her.  
"I told you, she get's shy around new people. But she'll get to know you better." Cream reminded.  
Blaze mustered a smile.

Soon the four were sitting around Cream's tea table, as Cream's mom, Vanilla, poured them something to drink and offered cupcakes.  
"Thank you, Mrs. Rabbit." Blaze spoke, her eyes closed in a somber manner.  
"What brings you back?" Cream asked.  
"My Sol Emeralds are here, and I don't know how they got here."  
"Your dimension has Chaos Emeralds too?" Shade asked.  
"In a sense. They're really more of the opposite. If a Sol Emerald and a Chaos Emerald are brought together, they'll repel each other."  
"Fascinating." Shade replied, examining her sneakers. "I'm from another dimension too, and here I thought mine was the only one."

"What's you're dimension like?" Blaze asked, surprising Cream that she warmed up as quickly as she did.  
"Well, it was more like a prison, actually." Shade sighed. "We wern't the only ones there, either. I was born in this dimension, but when I was old enough to join the Nocturnous Clan as a warrior, my leader had become too powerful. I guess the universe decided to punish him, and unfortunately, I and the others who followed him had to endure as well."  
"That's terrible."  
"Yes, but after we found a way back, I realized why we wound up there in the first place. After Sonic helped me, I chose to remain here while the rest of my clan moved on. They had grown too accustomed to life there to leave it, but I'm sure someday they'll change their mind."

"Sonic? You know Sonic?"  
Shade smirked. "Sounds like everybody does."


	11. Ghosts

Mega Sonic stood before the assembly line, watching as his fallen mechanical brethren were given a new life. The EggRobo in charge of the operation was the only survivor from the failed Angel Island takeover. The rest were fodder to Soinc's offensive. But now, their remains would see new use.

Another EggRobo body rolled forward, it's head outfitted with a helmet that resembled Mega Sonic's head, complete with the single glowing eye.

"Once this army is complete, our forces will be bolstered tenfold." Mega Sonic surmised.  
"What about the Shadow Androids we managed to obtain? Or those multi-colored Sonic robots I found in Eggman's scraps?" EggRobo asked.  
"They will have their uses. More covert uses. These units here, will be our strike team. A blitzkrieg of destruction that'll leave no living thing unharmed."

Mega Sonic turned when he heard two more soldiers approaching. One resembled Sonic, but was bigger and more primitive, it's dark sockets glowing red. The other also resembled Sonic wearing a visor over its eyes, but lacked arms. Instead, there were jets in their place, and all interaction was done via an extending claw in the stomach. Not one of Robotnik's better designs.

These two were Silver Sonic and Cyber Sonic. The former had the distinction of guarding the Death Egg years ago, while the latter had the honor of being aboard Robotnik's first flying fortress, the Sky Base. Unfortunately, time hasn't been kind to them, and their memory banks are too primitive and outmoded to handle any form of 'free will' like the others of the Brotherhood had. Therefore, they became enforcers, sent to do the dirty work since they have no sense of self preservation.

"What is your report?" Mega Sonic demanded.  
"Findings-indicate-that-a-Chaos-Emerald-has-been-located-and-a-team-must-be-dispatched-at-once-by-order-of-Mecha-Knuckles." Silver Sonic replied.  
"Ah, a trial run! Very well, EggRobo, send forth a team!"

* * *

"I appreciate you coming on such short notice, Shadow." Rouge said to the hedgehog as he stepped into the cafe she had chose to meet him at. "I know travel can be a nightmare."  
"It's good to be back, I guess. Soleanna is nice and all, but brings back too many memories."  
"We'll save those for later. Right now, we have this." Rouge slid the file across the table, and Shadow promptly picked it up. He flipped through the pages then placed them back down.

"Agent Nazo, huh? Sounds like quite the guy."  
"Apparently they hold him in high regard at GUN, which is why they think it's strange that he's seeking revenge. Especially when he's supposed to be dead."  
"You should know by now, some of us don't stay dead." Shadow smirked.  
"Did the Ultimate Lifeform just make a joke? All that Soleanna air must've messed with your head!"

Shadow laughed a bit at that. "What else did you say you have?"  
"Nazo was killed in a mission to Cyber City. GUN doesn't want to talk about it, so I didn't know if you knew anything from, ya know, back then..."  
Shadow thought for a moment. "I do recall in my time aboard the ARK, Professor Gerald was in talks with GUN, back when they were on good terms. From what little I heard in those talks, Cyber City was on an uncharted island, and built as a housing facility for GUN soldiers and scientists. They lived where they worked."  
"Well if no one can find it, why try to hide everything about it?"  
"It was the 1950s, the atomic scare probably made them keep it secret so it wouldn't be attacked by foreign entities. That, and I overheard Gerald explaining to Maria why some of the people in Cyber City feared his Eclipse Cannon because they didn't know he designed it to protect them from his mistakes."  
"So someone must have found Cyber City in order for Nazo to be killed there. But who?"  
"Why don't we go ask him ourselves?" Shadow replied.

"I like the way you think."


	12. Chaos From Chaos

Strolling through the streets of Station Square, was a certain weasel. Well, half weasel, half wolf to be exact. Blue green eyes scanned the area for any signs of what he was seeking. Soon, his gaze caught an Emerald, discarded in the grass of a small park.

Nack smiled at this reversal of fortune, his fang gleaming with the drool of greed. Common sense took root, though, and Nack realized that this was almost too easy. He half expected Sonic to burst out of nowhere, beat him to a pulp, take the Emerald, and speed off in a matter of seconds.

His brain said no, but his heart said yes. Sighing and preparing for the worst, he strolled over to the Emerald and looked around. Nobody to stare, no witnesses, and no Sonic. Satisfied he was in the clear, he knelt to pick up the gem.

Reality hit him hard, as he was blindsided, bouncing off the ground a few times before coming to a rest on the sidewalk. Once his head quit ringing, Nack realized that what hit him was metal. He glanced up to see three robots, donning heads resembling Sonic, pointing lasers at him.

"Sonic has an army now? A bit overkill, don't ya think?"  
One of the robots fired a laser as a warning shot, letting Nack know that they wern't involved with Sonic in any way, and did not hesitate to kill.  
"Okay, okay! Chill! Here, take the damn thing! They cause me nothing but trouble anyway! Swear I had the Hope Diamond or something..."  
The EggRobo grabbed it, signaling the other two away. Firing their jet packs, they flew off towards their base.

"Hey, weasel boy? Did you go pop?" an annoying voice asked. A green mallard wearing a red neckerchief and red sneakers approached Nack.  
"Something weird is going on here, Bean, and I'm gonna find out what." the weasel pulled himself off the ground, dusted himself off, and replaced his hat.  
"Ohhh, I like a mystery!" Bean began to get excited, almost dropping his ice cream.

* * *

Arriving at the Station Square airport, Shadow and Rouge stepped off the plane and took in the familiar surroundings. The strangest sight of all, was the giant robot standing in the lobby, holding a sign that read Shadow and Rouge. He drew stares, but little else.

"Wow, Shadow, I never figured you to be the joking type." Rouge smirked, pointing a thumb at Omega.  
"I've put my past behind me. If I am to be a good soldier, I need to stay in a positive state of mind." Shadow replied.  
"Whatever." the bat rolled her eyes. "OMEGA! Over here!"

The lumbering behemoth approached the duo, his sensors registering happiness at seeing his teammates again.  
"Shadow has briefed me on Agent Nazo and the mission." Omega said as he attempted to hug Rouge. "I am...happy...to see you again."  
"You'll get used to these new emotions, Omega." Shadow replied. "Now put her down."  
Omega complied, placing the bat gently on the ground.  
"The only question is, where do we find Nazo?" Rouge asked, adjusting her top.

An explosion rocked the airport, sending people fleeing and screaming. Emerging from the smoke was an albino hedgehog with hazel green eyes.  
"Looks like he found us." Shadow mused.

"Well, well...Agents Shadow and Rouge. I thought GUN would send their new teachers pets after me. And here I thought I was more of a threat than that."  
"Are you saying we're not capable of defeating you?" Omega snapped, cocking his arm guns. Shadow gave the signal to stand down.  
"Maybe I am. This is bigger than any of you, so stay out of my way!"  
"We just want to talk this out." Rouge explained, trying to use her seductive charm.  
Nazo dropped into a fighting stance. "Then let's talk..."

* * *

Elsewhere, among the ruins of a city long forgotten, the three Sonic helmeted EggRobo units flew towards the looming citadel in the middle of the wreckage. They entered through an opening, and landed inside, presenting their finding.

"Well, Mega Sonic, you've prove your point. Finish the others and dispatch them to all known emerald locations." Mecha Knuckles commanded, examining the Emerald in his clawed hand.  
"By your command." Mega Sonic bowed.  
"Hey, what about us?" another robot asked. This one resembled Silver Sonic, but was sleeker and more streamlined. This was Silver Sonic 2, who never saw action due to being kept in stasis in Eggman's old Final Egg fortress as a just in case. A just in case that never arose.

Silver Sonic 2 was different in the fact that he was programmed to behave like Sonic. As the latest model of the group, his technology allowed him a wide range of free will and attitude to the point he was almost alive. He would be perfect to mimic Sonic in espionage missions.

"You'll have your chance." Mecha Knuckles replied. He turned his head to see Tails Doll approaching. This mysterious Metallix was to be the next generation. A prototype of a series that never took off. The red gem upon it's head was later found to be a means of artificially creating the power of a Chaos Emerald, years before GUN dabbled in Chaos Drive technology.

The strangest thing about Tails Doll, was it looked, and felt, like any mere stuffed animal. Yet it could deliver bone shattering blows as if it were made of metal. It did speak, but only in binary, so therefore it "whispered" in the ears of the others, who translated.

"What's that? Another Chaos Emerald has been located in Station Square? IMPOSSIBLE! When the Chaos Emeralds scatter, the odds of two arriving in the same geographical location are ten billion to one." He then pointed menacingly at Mega Sonic. "Either recalibrate those signal arrays, or send something to investigate!"


	13. South Island Journey Part One

Tails tapped away at the screen if his handheld computer, the Miles Electric. His look of deep thought amused Marine, who was curious what was going on.

"Well," the fox spoke up, glancing from his screen to the antennas before him. "This signal array isn't a dimensional gateway generator, nor is it any form of communications."  
"Then what is it?" Sonic asked.  
"It appears to be tuned to pick up the radiation emissions of the Chaos Emeralds. Whoever this Brotherhood is, I'm willing to wager they have arrays all over the place trying to locate the Emeralds after they scattered."  
"What about the Emerald you have, the one for saving Station Square?" Sonic remembered.  
"It's in a led safe in my workshop. Nothing can detect it. I made sure of that. But you do know there are more than seven Emeralds, right?"

"Think one could be here, and that explosion was those blokes looking for it?" Marine pipped up.  
"It's possible. But that means scouring every location here to find it before they do." Tails' ears drooped slightly as he glanced up at the expanse of island before him. "Our best bet is to spit up to cover more ground. We'll rendezvous at my workshop if anyone finds anything."  
"What about Marine? We can't leave her alone." Sonic asked, trying to sound concerned for her safety to hide the fact he didn't trust her not to get into trouble.

Tails already knew Sonic wouldn't take her, as she'd just slow him down. And, as nice and well meaning as she was, Tails didn't want her potentially grating on his nerves. Suddenly, his ears perked as he had an idea.

* * *

"Can you watch Marine for us while we're gone? Pleeeeease?" Sonic begged.

Locky the eagle, one of Sonic's animal friend who emigrated from Westside Island's Hill Top mountain region, looked the raccoon over.  
"I'm sorry, but I have much work to do in my study."  
Sonic sighed, defeated. "Okay, thanks anyway."

"I'll watch her!" a voice spoke up. All four turned to see Mikey the rat stroll up. He was another immigrant from Westside Island, after Robotnik ruined his burrow with his Mystic Cave mining operation.  
Sonic sighed and rolled his eyes. "How much..."  
"You know my price." Mikey smirked.  
"Fine."

Sonic left Marine with the rat and walked up to Tails. "Remember to get him some cheese if you make it to the resort before I do."  
Tails nodded, a smirk at seeing Sonic getting exploited plastered on his face.

* * *

After about an hour of preparation at the workshop, Sonic and Tails were ready to begin their trek. They studied a map of the island, since they vaguely remembered where everything was, and split the locations. Sonic would get the dangerous areas, and Tails would get the high ground and underwater areas, since he was better at swimming. Whoever got to the remaining locations first, would report their findings.

Tails made sure all his gadgets were accounted for, and gave Sonic a few to help him out. Both knew of little hideaways that the other didn't, and made mental notes to check those as well. They then shook hands, nodded at each other, and went their separate ways.

"Why did this have to happen when I wore sandals?" Tails muttered to himself as he lumbered over a small collection of rocks. His first task was to explore Green Hills and what he could of the Underground caverns, which were mostly underwater. "Well, least I won't have to worry about wet socks."

After a fair bit of walking, enjoying what he could of the salty breeze, he made it to the lush inlands of Green Hill. Across the river that was fed by the Jungle's waterfall, Tails could see the resort, it's white towers swiveling slightly in the rising heat.

The breeze filled the air with the smells of the exotic flowers that grew around the grassy knolls. Apple blossom petals rode the currents, giving the vibe of a kung fu fight about to break out. Tails closed his eyes for a moment, but remained on guard. Moto Bug and the others, or worse, could be lurking out there. Sonic would never forgive himself if he got hurt.

"Hey, what are you doing out here by yourself?"

Tails' eyes snapped open and glanced over to see a small penguin with a coif of yellow feathers approach.  
"Hey, Tux! What's happening?"  
"Nothing exciting. Other than those robots breezing through here in a hurry." Tux was all to familiar with the robots, having been one of them along with his friends. Later models would forgo using organic batteries, and some developed their own personalities because of this. Hence the group Tails was chasing now.  
"Any idea where they went?"  
"Probably to the Crystal Egg ruins, where Robotnik had those labs, ya know? Looked like they needed to rebuild."

Tails' ears drooped. Crystal Egg was at the base of Gimmick Mountain, which was on the other side of the island. This was going to be a long trip.


	14. Journey To The City of Brass

"Okay...I've let you live for another night. Please, continue your story, Queen Scheherazade. I am curious how you will continue to portray me." King Shahryar was intrigued by her stories, as he stroked his bushy orange mustache in anticipation.

Queen Scheherazade, on the other hand, was running out of ideas. She knew her execution at the hands of the king's soldiers was inevitable, and she was only delaying it by making him wait for the next chapter. Soon, he would grow impatient, and kill her anyway.

Her blonde hair hung in her blue eyes, as she looked at the fat, almost egg-shaped, king. He gave an air of confidence helped in part by the red gem that rested on his crown, holding a feather in place.

"Very well, my king. The Babylonian traveler, along with Ali Baba and Aladdin, began their journey to rescue Aladdin's bride, Princesses Badroulbadour, from the evil sorcerer who took her and his lamp. They were forced to journey through the City of Brass..."

* * *

The desert sun beat down on the three weary travelers, who were unaware of just how far their goal was. They weren't even sure which direction the city of brass was in, let alone if they were going the right direction.

"So..." Aladdin gasped. "What's it like in Babylon?"  
Jet looked at the silver hedgehog, trying to think of what to say. Would he understand everything from where Jet comes from? Perhaps it would be better to just relay his mission instead.  
"Well, my culture had constructed a temple called the Etemenaki, as a tribute to our deity, Marduk. Unfortunately, in order to be the Temple of the Seven Lights, we need the Chaos Emeralds."

"Those are only legend." Aladdin chuckled.  
"I'm not so sure. King Shahyar does seem to have power that cannot be explained. His connection to Allah may be as simple as the jewel he wears on his crown." Ali Baba surmised.  
"As long as we rescue my bride, I don't care what you two do." Aladdin replied, matter of factly.  
"Look! Someone's coming! Maybe they can help us!" Jet exclaimed, pointing to the silhouette coming over one of the dunes.

After a few more feet of walking, they met the figure halfway, who was defiantly not normal. His appearance triggered Jet's memories to think of Omega, that big robot that hung around with Shadow during the Extreme Gear races. But that's where similarities ended. He was smaller than Omega, and had only one gun instead of two. The most striking about it's appearance, was it was made entirely out of tarnished brass, and rode upon a mechanical horse also made of such.

"Come." the mechanical figure beckoned, revealing the number 102 on it's side. Jet didn't know the significance of this number, but assumed there might be more of them. "I shall lead you to the City of Brass."

The trio looked at each other, incredulous at first, but then all agreed. Climbing upon the brass horse, they began the long journey.

* * *

"Tell me princess, do you fear me?" the black hedgehog asked with a smirk as he looked into her anger filled eyes.  
The feline struggled against her bonds, showing that she was not.  
"Well, you soon will. Once I free Erazor from his lamp, I'll have all the power I need."

Erazor smiled a wicked smile. "Indeed, you shall! I thought mine freedom was found before. But it wasn't to be."  
"What do you mean?" the hedgehog asked.  
"Allow me to explain."

* * *

A lone fisherman stood at the banks of the river, casting his net. The rather large feline didn't appear to have missed any meals, so he decided to cast his net only four times a day. He hadn't much luck with his first three tries, but upon the fourth try of this day, he had found a jar capped with a Seal of Solomon.

The feline leaped for joy as he thought of the money it could bring. But his catlike curiosity got the better of him, and he wished to see what was inside. As soon as he popped the lid, a gush of smoke emerged, knocking him backwards in surprise.

"At last! Erazor Djinn is free! Does this mean that King Solomon wishes to slay me?"  
The pink skinned humanoid turned to see the frightened feline staring in awe at him.  
"Ah, so it was you who freed me! I shall grant you the choice of your death!"  
"Uh...what?" the fisherman asked, confused.

"I had decided, that if I was freed in my first century of imprisonment, I would enrich the one who freed me. If freed in the second century, I would grant wealth. If freed in the third century, I would grant three wishes.

Still no one freed me. So after four centuries, I vowed to kill whosoever freed me from this prison."

The cat was still confused. All he could think of to ask was one question.  
"Uh...how did you fit in that bottle?"  
Erazor laughed at the fisherman's ignorance. "Allow me to show you!" With those words, he became smoke once more, and descended back into the bottle.  
The fisherman looked inside to see where Erazor went. Figuring he was gone, he shrugged and placed the cap back onto the bottle. Deciding it was worthless now that he was no longer inside it, the cat tossed it back into the river.

* * *

"So why did you not wish to kill me?" the hedgehog asked.  
"It was another three centuries before I was found by that other rat. But now, that you have the princess..." Erazor looked at the feline in the corner "my freedom is assured."


	15. Link to the Past

Time traveling through Eggman Nega's time machine was painful. Not in a physical way, but more of an emotional way, being dissected molecule by molecule. Once the trip was over, Silver found himself in a city, but something was different. He glanced at a near by newspaper box to find he was in Empire City, New York.

"Damn! Something must've been off with the settings. I wanted to go to Station Square." he glanced up at nothing in particular. "You still there, Chip?"  
No answer.  
"Chip...?"  
Still no reply.

"HELLO!" a voice startled Silver, knocking him backwards. He opened his eyes to see a red doglike creature flying over him, a goofy grin on his face. "Do I look alright?" he asked, running a hand through his white hair.  
"Chip? Is that you?"  
"Yep!"  
"But, how?"  
"I exist throughout all of time. Since my body is still healthy here, I went back to it. Figured you wouldn't want to look like you were talking to yourself."  
"Yeah...I guess..." Silver blushed slightly, not even thinking about that.

"Why are we in Empire City?"  
"You've been here before?"  
Chip nodded, "Yep! When I was with Sonic. I was hoping to go to Station Square, though. Sonic told me all about it, but I've never been."

Before their conversation could continue, three EggRobo units with Sonic helmets flew up to them, lasers cocked.  
"Large energy spike detected. Contact made. Energy is not from Chaos Emerald. Records show psychokenitc readings belong to Silver the Hedgehog."  
The robots took aim.  
"Terminate..."

"Can you still boost my psychic powers?" Silver asked, hesitantly glancing at Chip.  
"Yes. Are you ready?" Chip began to focus.

Silver nodded, and closed his eyes. His blue aura began to form as he focused his psychokenesis though his body, feeling the boost in power as it surged through him. When it was focused, he opened his eyes, threw his hands forward, and released an invisible wave of powerful chi. The blast knocked the three robots back and destroyed them on contact.

Silver collapsed, panting as his body began to relax. "That...was...incredible. Best I could do before was toss them around."  
"Told you it would be intense. I've been doing this stuff since before the universe was formed." Chip smirked.

The duo found a park bench for Silver to relax on, Chip produced a chocolate bar from seemingly nowhere and began nibbling on it.  
"Want some?" he asked, his eyes filled with an innocent glint.  
"No thanks." Silver politely declined.  
After a bit of silence, Silver spoke up. "Something must have went wrong. Those robots already exist, and they know who I am. But how?"  
"Maybe someone else from the future came here first, and warned them you were coming." Chip observed, licking the melted mess off his fingers.

Silver's eyes snapped open at that, his mind swiftly cycling through all possible suspects.

Mephiles? Nah, he knew his evil vibe too well now. No way it could be him, his stink would be all over it.

Eggman Nega? Well, there was no evidence that his time machine was used before hand. If Nega was in the past, anything he did would've changed the future before Silver's very eyes. He wouldn't put it past him to try and go back to tip the hellish future in his favor instead. But something didn't sit right in Silver's gut with that theory.

"Well, our best bet is to try and learn what we can without drawing attention. We can't let anyone know what we know. Giving knowledge of the future to someone in the past can lead to disaster."  
Chip smiled. "I know the rules. I saw time being born, remember?"  
"You're pretty cocky." Silver playfully Chip in his small arm.  
"Guess I've been around Sonic too much." he blushed, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry."  
"It's cool. You're more tolerable than he is sometimes."  
They both shared a needed laugh.

So Silver and Chip began the tourist act, admiring the sights of Empire City while keeping an eye out for anything that could point them in the right direction. Chip had brought a camera along to take photos, mainly of what he missed before.  
"Look, there's the Statue of Happiness!" Chip pointed at the majestic statue in the distance.  
"You mean Statue of Liberty, Chip." Silver chuckled.  
"Oh, right..."

An audible growling sound broke the silence.  
"You can't be hungry again?" Silver asked, slightly shocked.  
Chip laughed weekly, blushing.  
"Alright, we'll get something to eat."

Sitting in the small restaurant, Chip began to tuck into a burger that was almost as big as his whole body. Silver watched the impressive site, thankful he had brought along the credit card he obtained before returning to the future. He was surprised how handy it came in, giving the circumstances that could arise. He never traveled to the past for leisure anyway, so it was more of an emergency card.  
"We have to find a way to get to Station Square. We'll finish up here then go to the airport and..."

A green hedgehog, who's top quill was a jet black, approached the duo. The tops of his other quills were also black, as was his forehead and around his eyes, like a raccoon mask.  
"Excuse me, but are you Nazo?" he asked.  
Silver shook his head no. "No, and you are?"

"Ashura. Nice to meet you."


	16. A Life In The Day

Feeling lost? Want to catch up, brush up, or learn something new! Check this site here!

http: /tvtropes .org /pmwiki/pmwiki .php /FanFic /SonicWorldAdventureRush

* * *

"Okay, guys. Listen up." Nack the Weasel demanded. He looked to see Bean, the bomb loving mallard, absorbed in a video game, his bare feet thrown over the arm of the sofa. Bark, the lumbering polar bear, was busy sparring with a punching bag.  
Sighing, Nack shut off the game.  
"Hey, man! I almost unlocked a new achievement!" Bean complained, tossing the controller.  
"Something weird is going on here, and I don't like it."  
"Since when do you care?" Bean asked, now picking at his webbed toes.  
"When it gets in the way of me getting treasure, it gets personal! We haven't had a bounty in months! Rent on this place is almost due, not that you two care, leaving trash everywhere."  
"I tried to get us a bounty, but you wouldn't listen to me!" Bean protested.  
Nack rubbed his temples. "For the last time, I am not going to kill your brothers Bin and Pin. Especially not for a prize out of a cereal box!"  
"It was expensive cereal!"

"SILENCE!" Bark commanded, his voice surprisingly booming for someone who was always quiet. "I'm trying to meditate."  
"Sorry, Bark. Woody Woodpecker over here is gettin' on my nerves." Nack nodded towards the green duck.  
Bean blew a raspberry at Nack, who sat on the couch beside him. He grabbed the other controller and turned the game back on.  
"Wait, what's this?" he noticed a news report and turned up the volume. It paid having access to various news stations from around the country, as opportunity might present itself.

"This is Scarlet Garcia for Station Square 9 News, where we are bringing you live coverage of the recent Nazo attack!"  
The camera panned to the outside of the airport as she continued. "As we speak, GUN agents Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat are attempting to subdue Nazo and ensure the safety of the people. I am also being told that they are in the company of a large robot."

"There's our problem, dude! Those GUN guys take all our action! They'd rather be all official and legal, than hire us to be quick and dirty!" Bean complained.  
"Yeah," Nack snarled. "Why pay us an honest days work when they can get the taxpayers to foot the bill for 'em? We're in the wrong business boys."  
"Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Bark spoke, his eyes still closed in meditation.  
"Well, not like we can afford gas to get back there anyway." Nack sighed. "I used the last of the tank getting us back here after that bum deal in Station Square to begin with." he fumed at the promise of going after Nazo only to find that GUN was already on the job. If he interfered, he'd loose his license and even his freedom.

The television signal began to warp and twist, revealing an image of a short, fat man in a fez.  
"You thought you were rid of me, fair world! But I'm back! It's time for this pirate to make television fun again!"  
Nack shut the television off. "Screw this, let's hit the bar."

Bean was already dressed, wearing red sneakers with no socks, blue shorts, and a tee shirt with a superhero on it.  
"Shortfuse the Cybernink?" Nack asked, cocking a brow.  
"Yeah, he's awesome! He's like, the Iron Man of England!"  
"Since when you wear clothes anyway?" Bark asked, wearing his usual attire of a ski hat, scarf, and boots. He didn't need his boxing gloves.  
"I always want to look good for the club scene!"

Nack shook his head as he changed into his normal outfit of boots, gun belt, gloves, and his favorite Stetson hat. He almost grabbed his gun out of habit, but stopped himself.

Soon the trio were sitting at their usual spot in their usual club. The flashing lights and pumping music made everyone else on the dance floor begin gyrating as best as they could for being drunk. Their attentions were soon drawn to the waitress approaching them. She was a cute, yellow furred feline, wearing a red dress and matching red high heels, while wearing black tights underneath, given the clientele. Her black hair was held in place by a red hairband with plastic wings that emerged from behind her ears.

"Hey guys. Rough night?" she asked, her voice bright and cheery, as her tail swayed behind her.  
"Not really, Honey. Just Uncle Sam and his jarheads taking our action." Nack lamented.  
Bean delivered a playful slap to Honey's rear. If it were anyone else, she would've Judo dropped them through the table.  
"And how's my cutie duckie?" Honey asked, tickling Bean's chin.  
Nack rolled his eyes.

"Hey, I heard that there might be something going down later tonight. Something about Eggman being up to something. Maybe you can get in on it. Be security or something?" Honey suggested.  
"Nah. Doc and I don't see eye to eye anymore." Nack sighed.  
The music sifted tone, and Honey's ears perked up. "Oh! My favorite song!" She turned to Bean, batting her blue eyes. "May I have this dance?"  
"Yes you may." Bean said, taking her hand and standing up.  
"I'm taking my break!" Honey yelled to the bar as Bean dragged her to the dance floor.

As Nack watched the two, he saw an interesting duo walk in the door. One was a silver colored hedgehog being followed by a red, flying dog thing. The other was a green and black hedgehog, looking around for an open table.

Nack decided to snoop a bit, seeing as Bark wasn't being mister social, and Bean and Honey were busy being the worlds most unlikely couple. He walked up to the bar and pretended to stand and watch the crowd, but kept a trained ear on the two hedgehogs as they talked. They didn't really say anything of interest, until the silver one mention being attacked by "hedgehog helmeted robots". That caught his attention, if he was talking about the same kind he saw.

"You want another drink?" Honey asked, out of breath as she approached the bar.

"Honey, things just got interesting again."


	17. Swords and Feathers

"Okay, guys, this isn't funny..." Wave the Swallow protested as she walked through the overgrown forest she had found herself in. As she stopped to get her bearings, trying to determine which direction was north, she was unaware she was being watched.

"What trickery is this?" Sir Lancelot asked, the red and black hedgehog's voice sounding grave as always.  
"Must be some foul form of dark magik! No doubt work of Morgan la Fey!" Sir Gawain, the hot tempered echidna added. To him, she bore a resemblance to another knight, one whom Gawain was reminded to tend to, much later.  
Dame Percival nodded, lifting the visor of her helmet to reveal her feline features. The mere appearance of this intruder triggered painful memories of her half-sister Dindrane. "Indeed. She gave her life to save another. The presence of this being who looks exactly like her, makes her sacrifice in vain. That I cannot allow!"  
Lancelot nodded. "I buried her body. This reanimation is no doubt the work of that witch."

"Guys?" Wave called, "Where are...GHAA!"  
The swallow was startled by the three knights blocking her path. After her heart settled, she noticed that these knights looked familiar. They were Shadow, Knuckles, and Blaze, the ones she knew from the Extreme Gear races.  
"What's with the silly costumes?"  
"These are not mere 'costumes', witch! This armor is to symbolize our status as a Knight of the Round Table, under the service of the mighty King Arthur!" Percival snapped, showing firey hostility for no apparent reason.  
"Sorry..." Wave defended, holding her hands up.

"What is your name?" Lancelot asked, his voice giving Wave the impression that any answer would be wrong.  
"My name is Wave." the swallow replied.  
"She does not even have the same name! Will that witch's trickery know no end?" Percival lamented.  
"What witch? What are you talking about?" Wave asked, more confused than afraid of what these armed knights that looked like her friends would do.

"She is lying!" Gawain piped up, his temper flaring.  
"No, perhaps she isn't." Lancelot added, holding his arm in front of Gawain to make him stan down. "Maybe the spell that resurrected her, or created her, gave her no memory."  
Percival looked in disbelief at Lancelot. "This reanimation, or creation, or whatever abomination it is, defiles the very memory of Dindrane!" the feline was almost spewing fire with those words. Wave had never seen someone so full of contempt.

Before she could protest any further, Wave was apprehended by Percival, her arms wrenched behind her back painfully.  
"We will let the King decide your fate..." she seethed through her small fangs. Wave began to feel her stomach knot. Her mind reeled with all this sudden chaos, and she realized what was going on.

Her field may be mechanics, but that didn't mean she wasn't entitled to a good book every now and then. All this Arthurian setting and acting, led her to think for a moment that perhaps she was sucked into a book.  
She instantly shook her head at that silly notion. How ridiculous that sounded. Yet, she had gotten here somehow. Perhaps it was dark magic like Knuckles...er...Gawain had said, though she couldn't recall a time she was dead to be brought back.  
Her analytical mind than noticed that Blaze...well...Percival's reaction to her, indicated that whoever she resembled, was supposed to be dead, and with good reason. She could feel the guilt begin eating at her, but knew she couldn't help it if she resembled someone close to the knight. All she could do was explain her situation to King Arthur and hope for the best.

Unfortunately for her, she was about to catch the king at a bad time...


	18. South Island Journey Part Two

"Well...that's just perfect." Sonic mused to himself as he stood on a hill overlooking the rusting remains of Mecha Green Hill Zone. Years ago, Robotnik had tried to Roboticize this area along with the rest of Green Hill. Sonic managed to stop him, but not before the damage had been done.

There was no way to reverse the process, leaving it as an open wound on the otherwise pristine island. Sure Robotnik had other bases strewn around the landscape, but they were underground, and off limits. This area here, however, had to be guarded to ensure no unfortunate wildlife stumbled into it's dangers.

The one on guard duty now, was Wocky, the monkey. He was another Westside Island immigrant, and instantly took a liking to the tall palms of South Island. These provided a perfect vantage point, which allowed him to see Sonic's dust trail as he approached.

"Hey, Sonic!" Wocky called excitedly, hanging from a branch by his tail. "What brings you to these parts again? Looking for more spare parts for Tails to add to that beach house of yours?"  
"Nah, not this time. I'm looking for a Chaos Emerald before someone else finds it. But don't tell nobody!" Sonic playfully pressed a finger to his lips to emphasize the secret.  
"My lips are sealed!" Wockey said with a smirk as he made a zipping gesture across his face.  
"Good. Now keep watch. I'm gonna go explore. Let me know if you see anyone coming."  
"Will do!"

Sonic began scaling the chain link fence that blocked off the entrance, thankful he started laying off the extra chili dogs. After making it to the top, he hefted his weight over and landed gracefully onto the hard ground. There was no turning back now.

Pausing for a minute, he checked his watch. It was a sort of mini radar that could be set to anything. Tails had programmed this one to pick up the same wavelengths as the signal array, and something was triggering it now.

Hopeful he would find this elusive Emerald, he began his trek. Going slow isn't normally his forte, but he hadn't been here in so long, he forgot the layout. He knew there were traps and bubbling pools of molten metal, but now there was something different.

Those pools of liquid metal were now being harvested by some nasty looking robots. Giant orbs of steel with a single glowing red eye, rested between two large containers. Each was linked to a feeding tube that was sucking up the metal into it's recesses. Sonic would be all for this clean up effort, but something just didn't sit right with this situation.

"Um, hey..." Sonic called meekly. The robots ceased their activity and focused on him. He noticed this and continued.  
"Hey...Sonic the Hedgehog here...hi...um...I don't remember hiring you guys. So, what's going on here?"  
The robots were silent for a few moments. Sonic actually felt a knot in his stomach, not knowing what he had gotten himself into.

After a long pause, the robots took aim with their feeding tubes.  
"TARGET CONFIRMED AS SONIC THE HEDGEHOG! TERMINATE ON ORDERS FROM THE BROTHERHOOD!"  
"Aw...crap..." Sonic moaned, his ears drooping.

With those last words, Sonic took off running. Contrary to popular belief, Sonic isn't as fast as people make up stories about him to be. He's about as fast as a well trained marathon runner. Only when he has a Power Ring, is he capable of the speeds he's know for. Power Rings were a luxury he didn't have at the moment, so it was up to his skill alone to outrun the flying blobs of white hot metal being flung at him.

Once he was in an area with enough room to move, he turned and crouched. The first of the robots came within range, and Sonic pushed off, throwing his weight forward and holding his knees to his chest. His trademark Spin Attack landed right in the eye, and kept going. The robot split down the middle and exploded, knocking the spinning blue spike ball away and towards another.

Putting his Homing Attack to use, the other robots fell just as quickly. Sonic landed, panting from over exertion and from the rising heat of the metal. A sudden jolt of pain shot through his foot and he looked down to see he had landed in a puddle, and it began melting his shoe.

"Aw, damnit..." he grumbled. "Well, good thing these were my beach pair. Saltwater would've ate them anyway."

Despite trying to remain positive, he couldn't help but think of what the robot said. This "Brotherhood" sounded like they meant business. He remembered the Baseball Bats saying something about his old robot duplicates coming together.

But the only one who could benefit from liquid metal was...

Sonic's gaze shot up from his foot when that thought entered his head. If his gut feeling was any indication, he had to find not just this Emerald, but the others as well, and fast.

If not, he had a bad feeling someone, or something, would be making a triumphant return.

Ditching his shoes, as they were useless now, Sonic huffed at his situation. He checked the radar on his wrist again and saw that the signal was gone. Scratching behind his ear in thought, he got an idea, and began sifting through the wreckage of one of the robots. There! It was a broken Chaos Drive, like the ones GUN issued robots used. They were almost perfect in their imitation of Chaos Energy, but were highly unstable and not really viable for weapon use outside of providing lasting power to infantry machines overseas.

So now his robot doubles were dabbling in unstable technology to expand their ranks. The evidence mounting at this point was too much to ignore, and action had to be taken.

"Hey, hedgehog!" An all too familiar, annoying voice screeched. Sonic rolled his eyes and turned to see none other than Scratch, the tall robotic chicken, walking up. Beside him was the ever present, but not quite intelligent, Grounder. Being the first of his design, he was gifted with free will, something the other mole like tanks didn't receive in mass production, thankfully.  
Sonic sighed fustratedly. "What do you two dimbots want?"  
"We don't want anything, we're only here to make sure you stay occupied!" Scratch laughed his annoying chicken-like cackle.  
"Occupied?" Sonic asked, quirking a brow.  
"Yeah!" Grounder piped up, "We got to keep you busy until...OUCH!"  
"Shut up dimbot!" Scratch scolded.  
"Well, if you two are keeping me busy, this should be easy!" Sonic rubbed under his nose out of habit.  
"We're not the ones doing the work, he is!" Scratch stepped aside to reveal a hulking tank-like armadillo bot. Sonic remembered him as Kamodo MAX, the sub boss of Mecha Green Hill.

"Looks like the Brotherhood is expanding more than I thought." Sonic mused, preparing for a fight.


	19. Sparks

The fight had been going for longer than anyone thought they could hold out. Shadow and Nazo seemed equally matched in skill, and ruthlessness. One was a former enemy turned hero, with only a couple years or so of GUN training. The other was a former top agent, who probably forgot more than Shadow ever learned.

With a mighty shove, Nazo slammed Shadow's head into the toilet of the restroom the fight had carried into. He tasted blood, but didn't let it get to him as he hefted his weight around and planted his skates into Nazo's chest, pushing him back with enough force the albino hedgehog took the flimsy metal wall with him.

"Shall I intervene?" Omega asked, looking at Rouge for his hopeful answer.  
"No, I think he's got this. Besides, he's racking up enough of a bill." Rouge sighed.

Nazo pulled himself up and surprisingly launched into a Spin Attack. Shadow rolled his eyes at the fact he had to deal with ANOTHER show-off hedgehog, and proceeded to perform a Spin Attack of his own. The two whirring hedgehogs collided in air, bouncing off one another and sending them both sliding across the floor.

"Enough of this!" Shadow sneered, pulling his .38 SEGA Special from his ankle holster. He walked up to the fallen hedgehog and took aim, right between the eyes.  
"Shadow, don't!" Rouge called, a look of horror in her eyes.  
This plea caught his attention, and Rouge saw Shadow's features soften as he lowered the gun. What was he thinking?  
"Don't have the guts to do it, huh?" Nazo let out a laugh.  
"I was like you at one point." Shadow replied.  
"What happened?"  
"I got over myself."

Nazo sprang up, slamming his fist into Shadow's jaw, then took off, almost as fast as Sonic would.

"Damn!" Shadow snorted, rubbing his jaw.  
"You took quite a beating. But I'm proud of you for not killing him." Rouge commended, helping the hedgehog off the floor.  
"It wouldn't have mattered. We're fighting a ghost anyway."  
"True, but I doubt you can die twice."  
"Hopefully I don't find out. I already died once."

* * *

Rouge gave Shadow a playful slap upside the head.

The posh carpet of Club Rouge beneath Shadow's aching feet were a welcome relief as he climbed into the bed situated in the back room. He had been here before, but hoped it wouldn't become a common occurrence.

As he stared at the ceiling, his mind began to wander. He and Rouge had been though a lot, and despite all the unsavory characters and misdeeds of his past, she still saw him as a friend, and a hero. Everyone else showed him respect, sure. But he couldn't help but think their gratitude was out of fear or playful rivalry.

Rouge, on the other hand, seemed to be different. Her respect for him felt genuine, and almost, romantic...

Could it be?

"Shadow?" Rouge called. "You okay?"  
"Yeah. I've fought worse than some punk. He didn't even have reality warping powers."  
He noticed Rouge's puzzled look, realizing she didn't remember Mephiles. "Never mind."  
"I brought you some food. If you're hungry." Rouge sat the tray nearby.  
"Thanks." Shadow smirked, not looking at her. He felt her weight sit next to him on the bed and hear her sigh.

"You ever get tired of this?" she asked.  
"What do you mean?"  
"I mean, if it's not mad scientists it's vengeful agents or alien invasions or worse. I miss my days as just a lowly treasure hunter."  
"Why not go back?"  
"Are you kidding? I got bills to pay you know! Sure, government work isn't high paying by any means, but it's more than I got from swiping jewels."

"I would agree with you, but GUN did give me a second chance." Shadow replied, rolling onto his side to look at her.  
"In a way, they gave me a second chance too. They said they could use my skills, in return for not locking me away for life for all the 'crimes' I committed." Rouge made quote marks in the air.  
"You don't think you committed any crimes?"  
"No! If I hadn't of stolen them, someone else would. Besides, I was going to give them a good home."  
"Just think, if your life didn't go the way it did, you never would've met me."

Shadow didn't see Rouge blush slightly at that remark. "When I met you, you were a mentally traumatized troublemaker!" she managed to say, despite her snickering.  
"You know, I could've left you behind in that Prison Island explosion back then." Shadow smirked.  
"Oh, no you wouldn't have!" Rouge laughed, turning to slap Shadow.  
"How do you know that?"  
"Because..." was all she replied.

Shadow's smile grew wider when he saw her hesitation.


	20. Laments

**_I have been waiting for you...all of you..._**  
"Who...who said that?" Storm frantically looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. "Where's Wave? Where's Jet?"  
**_Patience...all in due time. They are performing certain...tasks for me. Something of which you are a part of as well._**

The albatross saw he was among the ruins of a castle, the decay around him gave an aura of melancholy and echoed the tragedy that happened here years ago. Charred remains of stone, ashes strewn about and falling from the air like snow, all of it reflected an event that happened, yet was completely forgotten.

Storm knew nothing of this event of course, but he did know who he was looking at. Standing before him was Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat.

He recognized them from the Extreme Gear races, but didn't know much about them to understand why they were here, or why he was here with them. Rouge was holding some form of scepter, ornate in it's design and sinister in it's purpose. The engraved handle almost looked like skeletal hands clutching a sizable orb glowing with a supernatural purple aura.

"Where am I? What's going on here?" the bird was growing angry now, losing his already sporadic train of thought.  
_**You are in the past. Well, a past that did happen, but also did not happen.**_  
Storm scratched his head in confusion.  
_**I knew a simple mind like yours would be perfect for this mission. Here, you can do whatever you want, and not have any effect on the future.**_  
"Really?"  
_**Yes! Though this past event was erased, it's full effects were not. There is nothing you can alter that hasn't already been changed.**_  
"So what do I do?" Storm shrugged.  
**_Obtain the Chaos Emeralds..._**  
"And if I refuse?"

At that moment, the attack from Dr. Eggman occurred. Storm whirled around to see what the noise was about just in time to see the scepter hit the floor. A rush of energy exploded forth, disabling Eggman's drones in an electromagnetic pulse. Shadow slowly approached the scepter, only for his path to be engulfed by a wave of living darkness.

The dark cloud shaped, formed, moulded itself into a likeness of Shadow, save for lack of a mouth, and his markings being a lifeless gray color.

With a wave of this new hedgehog's hand, Shadow and Rouge were teleported away. Storm froze in terror as the being turned it's gaze towards him and slowly approached, almost puppet-like in his movements. Soon, he was face to face with the bird, his green eyes revealing feral slits, filled with a darkness that no mortal could comprehend.

"_I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter..._"

With another wave, Storm was sent away to perform his task.

* * *

"So...what's with all the formalities?" Silver asked, staring at the drink Ashura had ordered for him.  
"Because, I know you're from the future."  
Silver scoffed, trying to play it cool. If his cover was blown, it would make things ever worse than before.  
"I can tell. Because I'm from the future too. Well...a future."  
"Really?" Silver asked, sarcasm in his voice.

"I was like you once, headstrong, reckless. But unlike you, I have no authority to change anything. Everything I witness I either have no prior knowledge of, or cannot stop for risk of damaging the time stream."  
"Why are you telling me all this?"  
"Because! You have the ability to do what I couldn't! You can prevent a terrible tragedy."

Silver sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Who is this Nazo you thought I was anyway?"

Ashura seemed uncomfortable, but tried his best to explain. "When I arrived here, it was a long time ago. 1992, by your timeline I believe. I had arrived on a quaint island that was slowly being taken over by machinery and mining operations. There was an expansive city there too, very nice place to look at. Anyway, I was attacked by these nasty robots and left for dead."

"This isn't a very cheery story." Silver remarked.

"It gets better. So, I was left for dead, when this blue hedgehog of all things, comes to my rescue."  
"Blue hedgehog?"  
"Yes. Through a process I don't have time to explain, I was saved from near death, but now I was a hedgehog like him, albeit, slightly inverted. Hence the green fur and blue eyes."  
"Right..." Silver was slowly loosing interest. Was this guy for real?

"Anyway, I wished to return the favor, but what happened next. Well, to be honest, I was too afraid to do anything. Your military force, I believe, was dispatched to defend that city, but it was too late. The city was obliterated by this giant space contraption that looked like an egg. I was consumed with guilt not only for those lost in the destruction, but because I couldn't help that hedgehog in return. I was sure he was wracked with guilt over that day too, which made me feel worse because I could've helped...but I couldn't even if I wanted to."

"I think you've had too much to drink..." Silver said flatly, taking the green hedgehog's glass away.

"Thus I took it upon myself to find those who lost loved ones in that horrid event, and apologize. It was an arduous task, but my conscience felt better for it. But Nazo, I learned, his body was never found. I clung to hope that he was still alive, and when I heard the news reports from San Francisco, I sought him out to apologize."

Ashura glanced at Chip, who was downing a glass of something that was almost as big as he was, and looking very tipsy in the process.

"I know what it's like to be filled with guilt." Silver lamented. "I had already traveled to the past once, to prevent my time from being destroyed by some demonic entity. I almost failed, but in the end, that very same blue hedgehog that saved you, saved me. Saved all of us. All of us except, her..."

"What happened?" Ashura asked.

"She had sacrificed herself to become the new vessel for the demon. She told me to send her to another dimension to keep her away from the other demon. But, in the end, when everything undid itself, she didn't come back."

Ashura nodded. "Time travel is a fickle thing. Because she was sent to another dimension, she was exempt from the erasure. She's still alive, and probably still has that demon inside her."  
"But if the events that led to her sacrifice didn't happen, why didn't she remain to begin with?"  
"Consider it...poor writing on the universe's part. I'm sure there is a good reason, we just can't comprehend it."  
"I guess..."

"Sorry..."


	21. Beneith The Sands Of Time

"Why are we going to this City of Brass? How will this help with my journey?" Aladdin asked, growing annoyed at how long their ride was taking.  
"The sorcerer you seek is too powerful to confront without preparation." the brass robot explained. "What you need lies in the heart of the city."  
"A Chaos Emerald?" Ali Baba asked.  
"Yes."  
"Those are only legend!" Aladdin protested.

They approached the entrance of the city, ornate brass gates, tarnished by time and neglect. There wasn't a soul to be found among it's towers and houses. The wall surrounding it warded off intruders, but also appeared to ward off any escape from their fate.

Most of the city's front end was covered by drifting sand, left to pile and destroy over time. But there, in the heart of the city, was a ghostly green glow. It was indeed a Chaos Emerald, and apparently the power source to this city. Perhaps, Jet thought, it was also the reason for their disappearance.

"Wow..." Aladdin gasped. "If I would've know of such power before..."  
"Then your fate would be the same as theirs." the robot finished coldly.  
"Is this the reason they call them Chaos Emeralds?" Ali Baba asked.

The robot didn't reply, instead dismounting and walked into the front gates.  
The trio looked at each other, then followed, hesitant of what would be in store.

The streets were empty, leaving the sand that constructed them to grow untamed. Most of the housing and shops were blocked, leaving whatever evidence of the lives that lived there locked inside to all but the most daring of explorers.

Other than the absence of people, the city was frozen in time. The tall towers of the city heart were still accessible by climbing, but no one dared. Some considered this hallowed ground, and wished to pay respect to those lost by not treading.

"This is unsettling." Ali Baba observed. "I haven't felt this nervous since I first discovered the Cave of Wonders."  
"If this Emerald is the hope of retrieving what is mine, then so be it!" Aladdin spoke, clenching his fist in anticipation of his conflict.

Jet was silent. He wanted to say this was almost too easy, but didn't want to jinx the whole affair. He desired the Emerald as part of his initial mission, but in his heart he knew helping Aladdin was the priority now. Call him a softy.

After looking around for anything or anyone of use, and finding nothing, the group stood at the base of the tower that held the Emerald.

"So...who's going to go up and get it?" Jet asked, not wanting to volunteer because of his gut feeling.  
"Send the robot, he has no fear." Aladdin suggested.  
"Can't you just spin your tails and fly up?" Jet asked Ali Baba.  
The fox gave him a puzzled look. "That is impossible." he said matter of factly.  
"Of course, how silly of me." Jet rolled his eyes.  
"Fine then, I will go!" Aladdin stepped forth.

The brass robot nodded, and opened the brass door, carved with a mural that depicted the story of how the Emerald came into their possession.

Aladdin stepped inside, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness that suddenly enveloped him. The inside of the tower looked just as abandoned and decayed as the rest of the city, but the darkness gave it an air of trepidation, as if something sinister in the shadows waited.

Climbing the long spiral of stairs, Aladdin finally made it to the top, basking in the glow of the Chaos Emerald. It was both inviting, and frightening.

With trembling hands, the boy reached out to grasp the object he long thought did not exist. Would he have the willpower to use it's power for good, or will he befall the fate of those who tried before?

Feeling the warmth of the jewel in his bare hands, Aladdin sensed the energy tingling in his arms and through his body. He carried it back, using the light to see his way down the stairs, and emerged from the darkened tower, holding it high in triumph.

Before there was celebration however, a rumble began to shake the ground violently, toppling buildings and shifting the piles of sand around to cause even more ruin.

The three stared in horror as the sand began to rise like the tide, something emerging from underneath it, rising up to defend what is his.

The draconic beast really had no description. It seemed to be made of lava rock, with fire coursing through it's veins. The skull-like head threw back and let loose a terrifying roar.

"We've awakened the Ifrit!" Ali Baba exclaimed.  
"Looks like we found out what happened to the rest of the city." Jet realized.


	22. Blackout

"All power levels offline. Critical system failure." a computerized voice droned among the chaos.

Agent Topaz darted out of her office when she heard the alarm. The lights had shut off, kicking over to the dull emergency lights on backup, and the flashing sirens were the only other illumination as she stumbled down the hall towards her superior, Captain Westwood.

Unsurprisingly, he wasn't in his office. Perhaps he went on ahead to make sure the path was clear. Or, if Rouge's claims were true, he was the one that started this.

As she worked her way though the twisting corridors, she noticed escaped Wisps floating about, scared and confused at all the racket. They were harmless, however, compared to some of the other things that could escape.

Case in point, Topaz failed to notice that a certain container that held a certain starfish like being, was now empty.

Finally seeing Westwood up ahead, she made her way towards him. "What happened?"  
"Someone managed to hack our systems."  
"That's not possible! I thought we safeguarded against any more attacks by Dr. Eggman."  
"It's not Eggman." Westwood replied flatly.

They both ran up to the console, seeing walls of text and random code scrolling by faster than their eyes could register. Someone was downloading volumes of information. Artificial Chaos units, confiscated Metarex and Drakon technology, coordinates plotting the orbit of Space Colony ARK, Project DURAL, all of it, was being siphoned by some unknown force.

"This is bad." Westwood remarked dryly.

Topaz looked at him, watching for any sign that he was behind this. But he seemed just as worried as she was.

"At least now we know how our Nazo impostor got all the information to put on a convincing act." a gruff voice added. Topaz and Westwood turned to see the Commander, and saluted accordingly.

"At ease. Now then, it's obvious that this situation is too far gone to do any real damage control. Our only hope it to get our teams to trace the source of this hacker, and shut them down from the inside. Otherwise, we could face another Wikileaks fiasco."  
"Could it be the work of that Brotherhood of Metallix we've been getting reports about?" Topaz asked.  
"As far as I'm concerned, the Brotherhood is on the back burner. That whole thing is probably another one of Eggman's schemes." Commander waved a dismissive hand. "If this attack has any connection to our Nazo imposter, or to this Brotherhood, we'll find it as we go. I don't want to waste precious time chasing hunches."

"I'll put together a team and set out immediately." Westwood chimed in, a confident poise in his stance.  
Commander looked at him with a frown. "I'm calling Sonic on this one. If it is Eggman, he'll know what to do."  
"But, sir I can..."  
"No buts, Captain. Back to your post."  
"Yes sir..."

Westwood walked off, a smirk on his face. He had a few calls of his own to make.

* * *

Tails stood overlooking the entrance to the underground caverns. As he began to weigh his options on rather he should go now or wait, a faint ringing caught his ear. Realizing what it was, he fumbled around in his gym bag until he found his cell phone.

"Hello?"  
"Miles?"  
"Speaking."  
"This is the GUN Commander."  
"Hello, sir." Tails subconsciously stood upright. "How are you?"  
"Not good. Is Sonic available?"  
"Um..." Tails looked around, "not at the moment, sir. What's wrong?"  
"We've come under a cyber attack. Valuable information is now in the hands of some hacker."  
"That's terrible! I'll inform Sonic as soon as I can, and see if I can find anything on my end."  
"How soon can he be available?"

Tails glanced up and saw a robot with a head strangely resembling Sonic's fly towards Aqua Lake.  
"Unfortunately, sir. Something has just come up on our end."


	23. Darkness in the Kingdom

Wave didn't know what to say, not that she was allowed to say anything anyway. She stood at swordpoint before the mighty King Arthur, but something was...off...about him. Wave knew the stories. Enough to know that this King Arthur, with his glowing eyes, face hidden beneath an ornate helmet, and the aura of malevolence, wasn't going to show mercy. Then again, she also knew from the stories, that his behavior was probably seen as normal by his knights. He was hardly what the later legends painted him to be.

"O, mighty king. We bring forth an impostor. She was summoned here by dark magik." Percival explained, kneeling before the king.  
Arthur said nothing, instead letting the female at his side speak for him. She approached, brushing her red hair from her large blue eyes. Wave noticed her elven features, pointed ears, lithe frame, slender limbs.  
"The King wishes not to be disturbed by petty intruders. He has far more important matters to tend to. Such as the coming siege by Mordred."  
The three knights nodded, their faces showing doubt but their actions showing loyalty.

"To the dungeon!" the female commanded.  
"As you command, Lady Merlina." Percval nodded, then jerked Wave's arms painfully. "Come!"

As the swallow was led through the castle halls, Wave couldn't believe her eyes. She saw Jet, though he was wearing armor much like the others. She wanted to call out, but knew that given the circumstances, he'd be the same as the others and not know her.

"Dindrane?" the green hawk asked.  
"No, brother. She is a foul creation of that witch Morgan LaFey." Percival seethed.  
"Ah, I see." Lamorak nodded, seeming unaffected by this news.  
"How can you not be appalled?" Percival asked, confused.  
"There's no sense in it." Lamorak shrugged. "We've fought her foul creations before, and won. Just because she looks like our dear sister shouldn't affect our duties. It's what that witch wants, to prey on our emotions."  
Percival nodded. Wave was surprised how profound this version of Jet was.

As the three knights walked by with their prisoner, Gawain shot a glance at Lamorak.

The heavy door to the dungeon swung open, letting the cold breeze carry the smell of mildew and decay throughout. Wave was shoved inside and the door closed firmly. Immediately, she was surrounded by several small people, no more then half her height. They wore dirty robes of varying colors, but all shared a white, mask like face.

"Uh...hello?"  
The masked people didn't say a word, just continued to observe her, pulling at her strange clothing and poking at her pink feathers.  
"You're prisoners here, too?"  
They all nodded.  
"And...let me guess...you think I can help free you?"  
They nodded again.

* * *

"I thought we had an agreement, witch!" Merlina snapped.  
The orange female echidna on the other side of the portal frowned. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"  
"You sent one of your creations here! It could prove problematic to my designs!"  
"I did no such thing!" the echidna was growing offended.  
"Just watch yourself!" Merlina snapped, then with a wave of her hand, the communication window closed.

Morgan laFey turned away from her portal and placed a finger to her chin in thought. She saw the portal that brought the girl here, and knew her power wasn't that great. At least, not yet.  
"Who could wield such power?"

_**If it's power you desire, I can help...**_


	24. A New Venture

Tails hefted the weight of his gym bag on his shoulder as he braced the rocks before him. Climbing up this hill of rocks was the only way across, as the bag was too heavy to fly with. He wished he could have told GUN Commander more information, but hoped that it was enough to at least draw important attention. They certainly had the resources far more advanced than his homebrew that could find any information.

"Gha! Why did I have to pack all this stuff?" he grumbled to himself as he felt his foot slip sideways in his sandal and he almost fell off. "Of course, if I didn't, that would be when I needed it."

He had learned on his adventures to be prepared. Since he didn't have the finesse or the speed Sonic had, he had to be the one to prepare mentally. Fortunately, Tails had an analytical mind that only improved with age, making him a very competent leader to Sonic's destructive force.

Once they worked out that mechanic, they became the inseparable duo they are now. Tails would point out the weakness, and Sonic would barrel through it, leaving no chance for retaliation.

Being alone allowed his mind to wander, and he began to think back to the time when he was really alone. All his life, before his parents disappeared, possibly into the clutches of Robotnik, he was told he was destined for great things. Everyone from Knuckles' great grandfather, to the mysterious Ancient Walkers spoke of the great things he would accomplish. He would bring balance to the chaos.

He still didn't know what that meant. It sure didn't look like him on that tapestry in Hidden Palace, nor did it help his built up ego when he learned that the Master Emerald he spent almost his entire youth guarding was only a fake to keep those who sought it for evil from discovering the real thing, or the Floating Island itself.

There was a lot of things he never told Sonic, despite their friendship. Sure, Sonic knew of his exploits against the Battle Bird Armada before they met, but he didn't know about the whole Master Emerald thing. Nor did he realize that Tails had single handily took Robotnik down by himself. The mechanics of time travel are a strange thing. While Sonic was busy on the Little Planet, he wasn't smart enough to realize that time changed everywhere, not just on that planet.

Thus when he traveled to the past and left Robotnik in the present, who knows what could've happened. While Sonic was in the past, Robotnik had made a bid to try and conquer the present without opposition. Tails answered the call and took him down. When Sonic returned, the events played out the same as before, except now they were together. Sonic still didn't know why Robotnik was so hell bent on kidnapping and killing him during that one adventure.

And he'll probably never know. The young fox felt dread build in his stomach as he continued his climb. Some things are better off left unknown. He comforted himself by thinking that Sonic had his secrets as well, that he kept from his foxy friend.

Perhaps it was for the best. All this war and destruction they encounter daily is enough of a strain on their relationship without having to find the time to catch up on past exploits. Time to reconcile and come clean would come after the genocidal cabal of robot doubles was stopped. When Eggman was defeated and this pointless war for freedom would be over.

Until then, his lips were sealed. The only secret that didn't need any complex explanation, was Tails taught music to the young animals of the island in his spare time to make friends.

All that thinking and moping made time pass pretty quickly, and Tails found himself on top of the small rocky mountain. The view of Aqua Lake was amazing as a double rainbow danced across the surface. Flickies of all sizes and colors flew about the exotic flora chirping happily.

He tossed the bag to the ground, hefted his weight, and landed on the wet ground, the mud slipping under his feet and splashing up the sides of his sandals. The air smelled wonderful, if it wasn't for the tinge of burning...something, that rode it's sweet currents.

The water of the lake began to ripple and bubble. Something was rising form the depths, and Tails was ready for it. The object revealed itself, a giant orb of metal. The top half was gray while the bottom was black, divided by a Robotnik like face consisting of a square mouth and angled mustache. The two glowing blue squares for eyes looked at the fox.

"TARGET IDENTIFIED AS MILES PROWER. TERMINATE."

"Aww, crud..." Tails ears drooped. He remembered this guy as the sub boss of Aqua Planet, the underwater facility Robotnik had built beneath Aqua Lake for his sinister purposes.

"Well, time to be the hero." he muttered to himself as he let the bag slid off his shoulder. He kicked off his sandals so as to not hinder his running, and dropped into a fighting stance, eying the robot for his first move.

The orb hovered there, doing nothing like it had did in the first fight against it long ago. Then, unexpectedly, the gray top of the orb opened, revealing some sort of miniature laser cannon. The fox's eyes widened in surprise as he dove out of the way of the oncoming beam of blue energy.

"That's new." he rubbed his nose in thought then glanced as his bag. He waited for the laser to charge for another shot, then ran right as it fired at his position, snatching his bag up as he darted past. He reached inside and produced his Rhythm Broach and hung it around his neck, feeling it's strange power increase his stamina and strength.

"Alright! Bring it on!" he yelled. The orb began a slow descent, landing on the muddy shore to try and get a better aim. Tails seized this chance and darted up, beginning his attack he perfected with his tails. Sure it would seem that swatting something with his tails would seem ineffective, but Tails knew physics. Force equals mass time velocity. At at the Sonic speed velocity he managed to attain, his tails hit with enough force to cause damage to the robots already weak land legs.

After his assault, the spindly legs snapped, as this robot was clearly designed for floating. With a kick of a muddy foot, the robot slid on the silt and rolled into the lake, water spilling into the open top and around the laser, seeping into the internal workings and playing havoc with it's circuits.

"That was almost too easy. Probably a distraction to buy them escape time." Tails punched his palm, then snickered at his subconscious action. He was hardly a boy wonder.


	25. Doom

He had seen many come and go in his lifespan. He had witnessed the rise of empires, and their fall, usually at the hands of his army. It wasn't until his bid for supreme power that led to destroying his own planet began his sentence. Those that survived, and the future generations, would make their home on the biggest piece of rock that remained. Thus they became interstellar nomads, driven by conquest and finding a new planet to colonize.

Many had fallen to their might, until one day, fate decided they had become too powerful, and felt they were a threat to the very fabric of the universe. As such, a divine, or perhaps sinister, cosmic force had banished them to eternity within the Twilight Cage. This place was a pocket realm filled with the worst of the galaxy and beyond.

After centuries, which seemed like mere days within the realm of the cage, another new prisoner was sentenced, This one being a group of Echidnas from Earth. This Nocturnis clan quickly set about trying to gain dominance within the realm, and began to bribe or enslave the neighboring races.

During the commotion, he had managed to escape through the rift that had opened. No one noticed he was gone. Perhaps Argus didn't care, as enough time had passed that any of his kind that remained were probably destroyed, leaving him alone.

But what no one counted on, was him making contact with a certain professor, and making an unholy deal that would birth a new kind of child. One that would lead him to, and help enslave, this planet earth. If the warriors on that planet were anything like the echidna race that came from there, they would be a worthy challenge to the immortal dictator.

But all of that was ruined, and his own creation had turned against him, leaving his thought lifeless body to drift through the cosmos until GUN found his remains and stored them. But thanks to their own security flaws, he was free once again. Now he would begin to rebuild his empire in secret.

Black Doom had seen what the echidna species was capable of, and also learned that they were in tune with the Chaos Emeralds moreso than anyone. Most of this knowledge came from reading Professor Gerald's thoughts and seeing some of his work in action. He had become infatuated with a strange tapestry located in a series of crystalline caves deep within a place known as Angel Island. This tapestry depicted a hedgehog, surrounded by 14 Emeralds, taking on some evil villain.

Professor Gerald was inspired to not only create a cure for his daughter and seek the answer for immortality, but to create that savior he saw in the tapestry all those years ago. His studies of echidna culture also lead to the finding of the Gizoid, which Doom knew nothing about. Thank goodness for that.

It wasn't until it was too late that Professor Gerald learned his mistake, and created the Eclipse Cannon to destroy Doom and his army before they could act. But GUN was afraid of such a weapon, and of the reports of the Biolizard's growing violent rage. They shut the ARK down and executed everyone on board, including Gerald's own daughter.

Before he was captured, in a final act of madness, Gerald turned the two weapons he created to save the earth, against mankind. He couldn't wait for the Black Arms to destroy them, nor would he live long enough to even say 'I told you so'. Thus, Shadow was perverted into achieving one of two goals, both would lead to the destruction of the earth.

It was this confusion and his true purpose that hindered Shadow in achieving his goal in the name of Black Doom. Such weakness wouldn't be tolerated again. He would make one final offer to the hedgehog, and he already knew the answer. Thus, Doom would have to destroy his only weapon in order to have a hope of succeeding.

But fate has a funny way of making things work out in the end. Until then, he will venture to this Angel Island himself, and attempt to obtain the Chaos Emeralds before he makes his presence known. If he posses their only chance at defense, he wouldn't need Shadow at all.

Doom could also relish in the fact that helping to push Professor Gerald to the brink until he corrupted the ARKs purpose, paved the way for his descendant to create the most terrible weapon of war known to man. A weapon he could possibly benefit from.


	26. Hiding in a Shell

_LO! The three noble souls Ali Baba Aladdin and the stranger from Babylon stood with the automation of brass in awe at the Ifirit before them the creature of wrath sent by Allah the benificient king to bring down punishment unto those who would seek to misuse the power of the sacred gemstone within the brass city walls. There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah the Glorious, the Great!_

_When thou art seized of Evil Fate, assume_  
_The noble soul's long-suffering. 'Tis thy best._  
_Complain not to the creature, this be 'plaint_  
_From one most Ruthful to the ruthlessest._

Mighty the Armidillo sighed and closed the tome, placing it in his lap. He sat in the shade of a tall tree, his bare feet tucked safely against him Indian style as he overlooked the expanse of the city below. Empire City was such a big place, but managed to still have an air of magic to it.

It was nice to get away and clear his head once in a while. Despite his incredible strength, he was a pacifist at heart, and took pleasure in meditation and quiet time every now and again.

He and Espio had gotten along with that mindset, but Vector's constant loud music and Charmy's naïve innocence prevented them from accomplishing the restorative benefits from such practice. It wasn't until a certain point in time, when one of their own sold them out, and led to a mistrust that forced Mighty away from the others.

He had seen in the papers, and on television, that the rest of the Chaotix was getting along fine without him, and almost acted as if they forgotten him entirely. Back in the days when they were a team, with a purple weasel/wolf named Nack as their fifth man, the Chaotix would go on many adventures and not expect any form of reward outside saving the world.

But after Nack had sold them out to a mysterious group known as the Brotherhood, things began to deteoriate. Mighty, being the kind soul he is, was the only one who knew that Nack wasn't as big of a scum bag as the others viewed him as. He was also the only one to come to the weasel's defense when he was revealed to be the traitor, as he understood the type of influence this Brotherhood had over him.

This was what lead to the force driving them apart. Then when Soinc began to get more prominece, the Chaotix became a second string team waiting on the bench, until Knuckles came along anyway. Vector got the hairbrained idea to start a detective agency, and the rest as they say, was history.

Closing his eyes, Mighty tried to fight back the tears that came with thinking about such things. He knew Knuckles kept his vow to not tell the others he still kept in contact with him, as he didn't need the headache that such socialization would bring.

Mighty's eyes snapped open when he heard the sound of seriens tearing through the air, and he glanced down to see several police crusiers speeding as if heading to something gravely important. Mighty put his sneakers on, stood, and took off down the hill to see what the comotion was about. It didn't take long after he reached the bottom that a loud explosion and a flaming police crusier sailing over his head, revealed what was going on.

Standing in the middle of the road was two Sonic headed robots, whose body shape resembled a certain mad doctor Mighty hasn't heard from in a while. But Mighty sensed the air of menace these machines gave shown that they were not Eggman's creations.

"BY THE ORDER OF THE BROTHERHOOD, YOU WILL SURRENDER AND GIVE US THE CHAOS EMERALD." One of the robots spoke, it's voice deep, distorted.

"Brotherhood..." Mighty whispered, glancing off in thought. "Could it be?"

Another exploding vehicle shown they wern't kidding. Mighty took action, putting to use the running skills he learned from his childhood friend Sonic. The robots couldn't get an aim on him, due to the unweildy nature of their laser cannons. Mighty rushed forward, putting all his body weight into the blow, sending the robot backwards with a crushed chestplate.

The armadillo then lifted the other almost effortlessly, and tossed it on top of the crushed one, destroying both of them. The crowd of onlookers and the police cheered his accomplishment. Mighty smiled. He missed this.

"Thank you for saving us once again, Mighty." one of the officers spoke.

"Well, it wasn't nothing. I am a hero after all." Mighty blushed slightly.

As he waved to the crowd of cheering masses, he saw from the corner of his eye a silver colored hedgehog and a green and black hedgehog among the crowd. This caught his interest, and he made a note to seek these two out later.

"Those robots don't know when to give up, do they?" Silver asked, glanicng at Ashura.

"Did you see that amazing show of strength? Brilliant!" Ashura exclaimed.

Silver rolled his eyes, then glanced over at Chip, who was lost in another chocolate bar he seemed to have in infinite supply.

* * *

Vector spat his coffee out all over the television screen. The crocodile couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Hey guys, look! It's Mighty!"

"What does he think he's doing?" Espio asked, glancing over from his spot leaning against the wall.

"Well he better not think he can come back to us! I can barely afford for the three of us!" Vector replied, a toothy smile at his lame joke.

"I miss Mighty." Charmy added, staring at the floor.

"Are you dense?" Vector asked, rapping the bee on the head, his fist resounding audibly off the flight helmet. "He stood up for that backstabbing jerk, Nack!"

"I'm surprised he isn't on the prowl yet." Espio mused.

"Well if he does show up, we'll be ready! Who knows if he'll drag that Brotherhood nonsesne with him again?" Vector stated matter of factly.

Charmy continued to stare at the floor, not saying another word. He couldn't help but feel that they did Mighty wrong.


End file.
